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I’m building an app that has the user log in through instagram, it then reads their feed and uses that information for the app. Instagram has a page that says their API’s will be deprecated in 2020 but some things will still work. It’s not straightforward as to what is being deprecated and what isn’t, and I have not found any way to contact them directly. Does anyone know if the following URL will continue working, and if not if this type of app will even be viable in the future? Why is IG and Facebook becoming much more closed platforms to 3rd party integrations?
https://api.instagram.com/v1/users/self/media/recent/
Deprecation notice:
https://www.instagram.com/developer/
2
Answers
It does not make sense to build something with the old API, that old API URL will definitely stop working (with all the old api.instagram.com endpoints). There is a new API though: https://developers.facebook.com/products/instagram/
The legacy Instagram API – https://www.instagram.com/developer/ will be deprecated in favor of Instagram Graph API provided by Facebook – https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-api
In order to use https://api.instagram.com/v1/users/self/media/recent/ this endpoint you need Basic permission. As documentation says, it will be deprecated in early 2020, which means that the legacy API will be most probably shut down, since there will be no more capabilities to request for.
You should most definitely start building your app with Graph API. Please keep in mind that it takes some time before you can go live with your app. It requires couple of things like Business Verification, review of requested permissions in App review and it can take some time to be able to go live.
Please keep in mind that the Graph API works only for Instagram Business type of accounts. You can’t use it for regular accounts at the moment. It is not clear yet if it will be available for all accounts, but most probably it will be in the future. It was the same as with deprecating Public Content permission on Instagram legacy API. They added similar functionality in Graph API.
If you plan to support all users, you will also have to apply for Basic capability in legacy API. In other words, you need to support both Instagram API and Instagram Graph API if you plan to target all Instagram users, both regulars and Business profiles.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you can’t really report bugs or get any help from legacy Instagram API. If you will find the bug you can’t report it as they do not accept it due to deprecation.
So start building with Instagram Graph API, once you will be good to go, try to add Instagram legacy API support. If everything will be fine and Facebook will add support for legacy accounts, your Graph API should easily take over Instagram legacy API functionality.
Most probably the reason why they are tightening the integrations and makes it harder for the developers is user privacy. They do not want to have yet another incident like Cambridge Analytica for instance.