Instagram Platform

Get Started

Updated: Dec 2, 2024
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This document explains how to make your first call using the Instagram API with Instagram Login to obtain information about your Instagram professional account, including your User ID, username, and media objects.

Before You Start

This guide assumes you have read the Instagram Platform Overview and implemented the needed components for using this API, such as a Meta login flow and a webhooks server to receive notifications.
If your current Meta app type is not a Business type app you will need to create a new app and select Business during the creation process. If this new app needs Advanced Access, App Review is required.

Get an access token

An access token contains information about the app making the request, the token’s expiration date, the app user’s Instagram User ID and the permissions the user has granted the app. You can get an Instagram user access token using one of the following methods:
Business Login for Instagram
If you have implemented Business Login for Instagram into your app, log in to your app.
App Dashboard
If you have not implemented Business Login for Instagram, Get an access token via the App Dashboard.
  1. In your app dashboard, click Instagram > API setup with Instagram business login in the left side menu.
  2. Click Generate token next to the Instagram account you want to access.
  3. Log into Instagram.
  4. Copy the access token.
Access tokens from the business login flow are short-lived and valid for 1 hour. Access tokens from the App Dashboard are long-lived and are valid for 60 days. Learn how to extend the expiry of any access token.

Get the app user ID & username

To obtain your app user’s Instagram professional account user ID and username, send a GET request to the /me endpoint with the following parameters:
  • fields set to a comma-separated list with user_id and username
  • access_token set to the access token from the app dashboard
Note: The /me endpoint represents the app user’s ID received from the access token, in this example, your user ID.

Example request

Formatted for readability.
curl -i -X GET \
 "https://graph.instagram.com/v26.0/me
      ?fields=user_id,username
      &access_token=Ealkdfj..."
On success, your app receives a JSON object with the app user’s Instagram user ID and the username of the Instagram professional account.
{
  "data": [
    {
      "user_id": "<IG_ID>"
      "username": "<IG_USERNAME>"
    }
  ]
}

Fields

You can use the fields query string parameter to request the following fields on a User.
Field Name Description
id
The app user’s app-scoped ID
user_id
The Instagram professional acount ID, <IG_ID>, for your app user. This ID is value of the id field received in webhook notifications for this account.
username
The app user’s Instagram username.
name
The app user’s name
account_type
The app user’s account type. Can be Business or Media_Creator.
profile_picture_url
The URL for the app user’s profile picture.
followers_count
The number of followers of the app user’s Instagram professional account
follows_count
The number of Instagram accounts the app user’s Instagram professional account follows
media_count
The number of Media object on the User

Get an app user’s media objects

To get media objects, send a GET request to the /<IG_ID>/media endpoint.

Example request

Formatted for readability.
curl -i -X GET \
 "https://graph.instagram.com/v26.0/<IG_ID>/media?access_token=<INSTAGRAM_USER_ACCESS_TOKEN>"
On success your app receives a JSON object with the IDs of all the IG Media objects on the IG User:
{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "17918195224117851"
    },
    {
      "id": "17895695668004550"
    },
    {
      "id": "17899305451014820"
    },
    {
      "id": "17896450804038745"
    },
    {
      "id": "17881042411086627"
    },
    {
      "id": "17869102915168123"
    }
  ],
  "paging": {
    "cursors": {
      "before": "QVFIUkdGRXA2eHNNTUs4T1ZAXNGFxQTAtd3U4QjBLd1B2NXRMM1NkcnhqRFdBcEUzSDVJZATFoLWtXMWZAGU2VrRTk2RHVtTVlDckI2NjN0UERFa2JrUk4yMW13",
      "after": "QVFIUmlwbnFsM3N2cV9lZAFdCa0hDeV9qMVliT0VuMmJyNENxZA180c0t6VjFQVEJaTE9XV085aU92OUFLNFB6Szd2amo5aV9rTlVBcnNlWmEtMzYxcE1HSFR3"
    }
  }
}
If you are able to perform this final query successfully, you should be able to perform queries using any of the Instagram API with Instagram Login endpoints — just see our various guides and references to learn what each endpoint can do and what permissions they require.

Next Steps

Now that you know how to get access tokens and Instagram User IDs for your app users, learn how to subscribe your app users to Instagram webhooks notifications.