Instaloader
===========
Tool to automatically download pictures (or videos) of given profiles
from Instagram.
Installation
------------
Instaloader is written in Python, thus ensure having
`Python `__ (at least version 3.5) installed.
If you intend to use this tool under Windows, it is recommended
to install
`win-unicode-console `__.
If you have `pip `__ installed, you
may install Instaloader using
::
pip3 install instaloader
Alternatively, to get the most current version of Instaloader from our
`Git repository `__:
::
pip3 install git+https://github.com/Thammus/instaloader
(pass ``--upgrade`` to upgrade if Instaloader is already installed)
Instaloader requires
`requests `__, which
will be installed automatically, if it is not already installed.
How to automatically download pictures from Instagram
-----------------------------------------------------
To **download all pictures and videos of a profile**, as well as the
**profile picture**, do
::
instaloader profile [profile ...]
where ``profile`` is the name of a profile you want to download. Instead
of only one profile, you may also specify a list of profiles.
To later **update your local copy** of that profiles, you may run
::
instaloader --fast-update profile [profile ...]
When ``--fast-update`` is given, Instaloader stops when arriving at
the first already-downloaded picture.
Instaloader can also be used to **download private profiles**. To do so,
invoke it with
::
instaloader --login=your_username profile [profile ...]
When invoked like this, it also **stores the session cookies** in a file
in your temporary directory, which will be reused later when ``--login`` is given. So
you can download private profiles **non-interactively** when you already
have a valid session cookie file.
You may also download
**the most recent pictures by hashtag**:
::
instaloader "#hashtag"
If you want to **download all followees of a given profile**, call
::
instaloader --login=your_username @profile
To **download all the pictures from your feed which you have liked**, call
::
instaloader --login=your_username :feed-liked
or to **download all pictures from your feed**:
::
instaloader --login=your_username :feed-all
Advanced Options
----------------
The following flags can be given to Instaloader to specify how profiles should
be downloaded.
--fast-update Stop when encountering the first already-downloaded post
of a profile.
--profile-pic-only Only download profile pictures. Without this flag, the current
profile picture and all the profile's posts are downloaded.
--skip-videos Skip posts which are videos.
--geotags Also **download geotags** and store Google Maps links in
separate textfiles.
--count COUNT If used with ``#hashtag``, ``:feed-all`` or
``:feed-liked``: Do not attempt to download more than COUNT
posts.
--quiet Do not output any messages except warnings and errors. This
option makes Instaloader **suitable as a cron job**.
--no-sleep Normally, Instaloader waits a few seconds between requests
to the Instagram servers. This flag inhibits this behavior.
--password PASSWORD If used with ``--login``, use parameter as password if no
valid session file is found, instead of asking
interactively.
--sessionfile FILE Specify an alternative place for loading and storing the
session cookies. Without this flag, they are stored in a path
within your temporary directory, encoding your local
username and your instagram profile name.
To get a list of all flags, run ``instaloader --help``.
Usage as Python module
----------------------
You may also use parts of Instaloader as library to do other interesting
things.
For example, to get a list of all followees of a profile as well as
their follower count, do
.. code:: python
import instaloader
# login
session = instaloader.get_logged_in_session(USERNAME)
# get followees
followees = instaloader.get_followees(PROFILE, session)
for f in followees:
print("%i\t%s\t%s" % (f['follower_count'], f['username'], f['full_name']))
Then, you may download all pictures of all followees with
.. code:: python
for f in followees:
try:
instaloader.download(f['username'], session)
except instaloader.NonfatalException:
pass
You could also download your last 20 liked pics with
.. code:: python
instaloader.download_feed_pics(session, max_count=20, fast_update=True,
filter_func=lambda node:
not node["likes"]["viewer_has_liked"] if "likes" in node else not node["viewer_has_liked"])
To download the last 20 pictures with hashtag #cat, do
.. code:: python
instaloader.download_hashtag('cat', session=instaloader.get_anonymous_session(), max_count=20)
Each Instagram profile has its own unique ID which stays unmodified even
if a user changes his/her username. To get said ID, given the profile's
name, you may call
.. code:: python
instaloader.get_id_by_username(PROFILE_NAME)
``get_followees()`` also returns unique IDs for all loaded followees. To
get the current username of a profile, given this unique ID
``get_username_by_id()`` can be used. For example:
.. code:: python
instaloader.get_username_by_id(session, followees[0]['id'])