August 28 2014 - InstaRss

composer.json

{
  "require": {
    "php": "^7.0.0"
  }
}

composer.lock

{
    "_readme": [
        "This file locks the dependencies of your project to a known state",
        "Read more about it at https://getcomposer.org/doc/01-basic-usage.md#composer-lock-the-lock-file",
        "This file is @generated automatically"
    ],
    "content-hash": "ba93918fe5641d588ab528e4bba94046",
    "packages": [],
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    "minimum-stability": "stable",
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    "prefer-stable": false,
    "prefer-lowest": false,
    "platform": {
        "php": "^7.0.0"
    },
    "platform-dev": []
}

Instarss.md

Instarss

I was looking around for a way to get a user's public Instagram feed as an RSS feed without using the Instagram API when I came across this question on Stack Overflow.

Probably the best way to do this, would be to use the Instagram API. However, I had no desire to sign up for an Instagram account.

Initially, this answer on Stack Overflow suited my needs quite well. However, as fate would have it, Instagram changed its HTML output and the page's JSON data structure changed. Since the idea is quite simple (we're just screen scrapping here) I decided to write my own script. If this works well for you, consider upvoting my answer on Stack Overflow: http://stackoverflow.com/a/25559442/1171790

---

Changelog

EDIT August 2017: I no longer support this scipt. The Instagram HTML output of any given user page changes often and it's been a fun game of cat and mouse but I no longer have a need for an Instagram user RSS. If someone else wants to submit a pull request to this Gist that supports the current Instagram output, I'd be happy to merge your changes. Thanks!

EDIT Septemeber 2017: I decided to continue supporting this script, for now. I got a couple emailed requests for support. I added changes and instructions to help people set it up on Heroku.

EDIT March 2018: This script will not be supported anymore but you get the idea - we are scraping the JSON object off of the page with PHP.

EDIT March 2023: Pull requests that work (tests or proof or some sort) will be accepted and merged. Cheers! 🥂

---

Example usage

Upload the script to your own server with PHP installed and then call the script via curl or in your web browser.

Getting a user's Instagram feed as an RSS feed: instarss.php?user=username

Getting an RSS feed of Instagram tags (aka hashtags): instarss.php?hashtag=carshow

Gotchas

Since your RSS reader will be checking for new content on some sort of interval and since Instagram provides the latest 20 photos/videos on a user's homepage, there is a potential for some content to be overlooked. In the event that more than 20 posts have been posted since the script last checked for new content, some content could be missed. Setting your RSS reader to check the instarss.php script often, will work around this. Alternatively, you can checkout this script which probably handles pagination.

Deploy Instarss on Heroku

If you'd like to use this script, it's probably easiest to set it up on a Heroku instance.

1. First, clone this repository: git clone https://gist.github.com/48c46d9fc2913fba3292.git and then cd into the project directory.

2. Login to Heroku and create a new app.

3. And then login to Heroku via the command line: heroku login

4. Then add Heroku as a remote: heroku git:remote -a your-projects-name

5. git push heroku master

You can then access Instarss at a URL like: https://your-projects-name.herokuapp.com/instarss.php?user=snoopdogg

instarss.php

<?php

    if (!isset($_GET['user'])) {
        if (!isset($_GET['hashtag'])) {
            exit('Not a valid RSS feed. You didn\'nt provide an Instagram user or hashtag. Send one via a GET variable. Example: mysite.com/instarss.php?user=snoopdogg');
        }
    }

    if (isset($_GET['user']) && isset($_GET['hashtag'])) {
        exit('Don\'t request both user and hashtag. Request one or the other.');
    }

    if (isset($_GET['user'])) {
        $html = file_get_contents('http://instagram.com/'.$_GET['user'].'/');
    }
    if (isset($_GET['hashtag'])) {
        $html = file_get_contents('http://instagram.com/explore/tags/'.$_GET['hashtag'].'/');
    }
    $html = strstr($html, '"entry_data');
    $html = strstr($html, '</script>', true);
    $html = substr($html, 0, -1);
    $html = '{'.$html;

    // For debugging... (like when Instagram changes its HTML page output).
    // echo $html;

    $data = json_decode($html);

    // More debugging...
    // print_r($data->entry_data->ProfilePage[0]->user->media->nodes);
    // exit();

    if (isset($_GET['user'])) {
        if ($data->entry_data->ProfilePage[0]->user->media->nodes) {
            $nodes = $data->entry_data->ProfilePage[0]->user->media->nodes;
        } else {
            exit('Looks like this Instagram account is set to private or doesn\'t exist. We can\'t do much about that now, can we?');
        }
    }
    if (isset($_GET['hashtag'])) {
        $nodes = $data->entry_data->TagPage[0]->tag->media->nodes;
    }

    header('Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8');

    $rss_feed = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><channel>';

    if (isset($_GET['user'])) {
        $rss_feed .= '<title>'.$_GET['user'].'\'s Instagram Feed</title><atom:link href="http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"].'" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><link>http://instagram.com/'.$_GET['user'].'</link><description>'.$_GET['user'].'\'s Instagram Feed</description>';
    }

    if (isset($_GET['hashtag'])) {
        $rss_feed .= '<title>Photos tagged with: '.$_GET['hashtag'].' on Instagram</title><atom:link href="http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"].'" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><link>http://instagram.com/explore/tags/'.$_GET['hashtag'].'</link><description>Photos tagged with: '.$_GET['hashtag'].' on Instagram</description>';
    }

    foreach($nodes as $node) {

        $rss_feed .= '<item><title>';

        if (isset($node->caption) && $node->caption != '') {
            $rss_feed .= htmlspecialchars($node->caption, ENT_QUOTES);
        } else {
            $rss_feed .= 'photo';
        }

        // <pubDate> format could also be: "D, d M Y H:i:s T"
        $rss_feed .= '</title><link>https://instagram.com/p/'.$node->code.'/</link><pubDate>'.date("r", $node->date).'</pubDate>';

        if (isset($_GET['user'])) {
            $rss_feed .= '<dc:creator><![CDATA['.$_GET['user'].']]></dc:creator>';
        }

        $rss_feed .= '<description><![CDATA[<img src="'.$node->display_src.'" />]]></description><guid>https://instagram.com/p/'.$node->code.'/</guid></item>';

    } // foreach "node" (aka photo)

    $rss_feed .= '</channel></rss>';

    echo $rss_feed;

Procfile

web: vendor/bin/heroku-php-apache2

Awesome work on this Jonathan, thanks so much! Might it possible to make this script work for #hashtags too? Like

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/carshow/

@BCwhoLikesPHP See my recent edit. I think that'll work for ya.
http://yourserver.com/instarss/instarss.php?hashtag=carshow

Hi.
how to remove "?ig_cache_key=*" from the source pics.?
thanks.

Hi.
how to remove "?ig_cache_key=*" from the source pics.?
thanks.

thanks to blitterobject reddit user for resolve this problem.

@mboveiri just curious, why did you want to remove that param?

@jonathanbell - because it's untidy, and not actually necessary?
@mboveiri - I'm doing it with a simple strstr($i["display_src"], "?ig_cache_key=", true)

@hobailey Interesting, when I first wrote the script, I couldn't view/call the images in browser without it. You're right though, it seems to work just fine now without the token.

@jonathanbell hi there
does it support videos?

@paydar currently it will send the thumbnail of the video but not the video itself.

Did Instagram change something? It doesn't work anymore

I don't have a copy of the previous Instagram JSON, and I'm no JSON expert, but it seems like they've removed a parent element necessary for this script. I get around this now by restricting the array to just the more or less static elements and adding a parent open tag:

$html = strstr($html, '"entry_data');
$html = strstr($html, '</script>', true);
$html = substr($html, 0, -1);

$html = '{' . $html;

I'm tired of chasing Instagram. I won't be making changes to this Gist any longer. If your fork of this Gist works with Instagram's updated JSON output, copy/paste a link to your fork here.

I agree, this a problematic moving target, but I've got a client that requires me to keep it going. Here's a fork that should work for now:
https://gist.github.com/mxwright/54af2703f19ae6f83949969c7b0b752c

I don't use the Gist in the same way as written, but the changes (noted above) should keep it working.

@mxwright Thanks! I added your fork as an upstream branch and merged your changes into this Gist.

@jonathanbell Under what license is that php code? Is it public domain?

Dude, you are one great person!
I hate how Instagram changes everything and makes them worse day by day!
Thank you very much for this code

@mimi89999 Licence = WTFPL (http://www.wtfpl.net/)

hi @jonathanbell
again it doesnt show image URL.

More than likely, Instagram has changed their output again. If you'd like to make edits to a fork, I will pull them into this gist.

Yes, pattern match in line 72 ?ig_cache_key= no longer there in img src. So image path not matched and not picked up.

@jonathanbell

More than likely, Instagram has changed their output again. If you'd like to make edits to a fork, I will pull them into this gist.

You only need to revert the last commit.

@mimi89999 It's been almost 3 years since we started chasing the Instagram output. I appreciate your comment but I think I will stop updating this Gist. Hopefully, people can reason about the code and work it into their own project(s).

Lots of interest expressed over email so this gist is working again. See installation instructions if you'd like to install on Heroku.

oh man they really jacked it up this time

gotta use something like:
$data->entry_data->ProfilePage[0]->graphql->user->edge_owner_to_timeline_media->edges as $e

I'm so tired! 😢

i was trying to get this to work..
instagram now has instgram.com/{user}/?__a=1
but it looks like you need to send headers and allow to set cookies.. and i dont think you can do this with file_get_contents

@kissuidonet If instagram now has ?__a=1 and that serves up json it's trivial to get that and convert it to a PHP array which we can then use to create the XML RSS feed like we were doing before.

Can anyone get this code works with /? __ a =? https://browse-tutorials.com/snippet/php-instagram-rss-feed

hello jonathan,

is there any updated version that works with the latest instagram changes?