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Disclaimer: Please Note that this is a research project. I am by no means responsible for any usage of this tool. Use on your own behalf. I’m also not responsible if your accounts get banned due to extensive use of this tool.

InstaPy

Read about how it works on Medium

Check out the talk

Instagram Like, Comment and Follow Automation Script

Automation Script for “farming” Likes, Comments and Followers on Instagram.

Implemented in Python using the Selenium module.

Example

from instapy import InstaPy

InstaPy(username='test', password='test')\
  .login()\
  .set_do_comment(True, percentage=10)\
  .set_comments(['Cool!', 'Awesome!', 'Nice!'])\
  .set_dont_include(['friend1', 'friend2', 'friend3'])\
  .set_dont_like(['food', 'girl', 'hot'])\
  .set_ignore_if_contains(['pizza'])\
  .like_by_tags(['dog', '#cat'], amount=100)\
  .end()

It’s easy to use and the built in delays prevent your account from getting banned. (Just make sure you don't like 1000s of post/day)

Getting started

Guides: How to Ubuntu        How to CentOS        How to Windows

You need to have Python 2.7 or 3.6 installed. Setted up path for PY command. Installed Selenium and pyvirtualdriver.

Make sure to get the right chromedriver for your system from here: https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/chromedriver/downloads. Just put it in /assets.

If you're not too familiar with code and you're working on Windows, try out this tool to set up the settings: InstaPy Windows GUI

cd InstaPy
pip install .

or

cd InstaPy
python setup.py install

If you want the script to get the username and password for your environment, you can do:

export INSTA_USER="<Your username>"
export INSTA_PW="<Your password>"

---

from instapy import InstaPy

#if you don't provide arguments, the script will look for INSTA_USER and INSTA_PW in the environment

session = InstaPy(username='test', password='test')
session.login()

#likes specified amount of posts for each hashtag in the array (the '#' is optional)
#in this case: 100 dog-posts and 100 cat-posts
session.like_by_tags(['#dog', 'cat'], amount=100)

#likes specified amount of posts for each location in the array
#in this case: 100 posts geotagged at the chrysler building and 100 posts geotagged at the salton sea
session.like_by_locations(['26429/chrysler-building/', '224442573/salton-sea/'], amount=100)

#gets tags from image passed as instagram-url and likes specified amount of images for each tag
session.like_from_image(url='www.instagram.com/p/BSrfITEFUAM/', amount=100)

#likes 50 photos of other animals

session.like_by_tags(['#animals'], amount=50, media='Photo')
session.like_from_image(url='www.instagram.com/image', amount=50, media='Photo')

#likes 15 videos of cats

session.like_by_tags(['#cat'], amount=15, media='Video')
session.like_from_image(url='www.instagram.com/image', amount=15, media='Video')

session.end()

Locations

To you can find locations for the like_by_locations function by browsing here: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/ OR by regular instagram search.

Example:

• Search 'Salton Sea' and select the result with a location icon
• The url is: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/224442573/salton-sea/
• Use everything after 'locations/' or just the number

#both of these work

session.like_by_locations(['224442573/salton-sea/'], amount=100)
session.like_by_locations(['224442573'], amount=100)

Restricting Likes

#completely ignore liking images from certain users

session.set_ignore_users(['random_user', 'another_username'])

.set_dont_like searches the description and owner comments for hashtags and won't like the image if one of those hashtags are in there

You have 4 options to exclude posts from your InstaPy session:

• words starting with # will match only exact hashtags (e. g. #cat matches #cat, but not #catpic)
• words starting with [ will match all hashtags starting with your word (e. g. [cat matches #catpic, #caturday and so on)
• words starting with ] will match all hashtags ending with your word (e. g. ]cat matches #mycat, #instacat and so on)
• words without these prefixes will match all hashtags that contain your word regardless if it is placed at the beginning, middle or end of the hashtag (e. g. cat will match #cat, #mycat, #caturday, #rainingcatsanddogs and so on)

session.set_dont_like('#exactmatch', '[startswith', ']endswith', 'broadmatch')

Ignoring Restrictions

#will ignore the don't like if the description contains
# one of the given words

session.set_ignore_if_contains(['glutenfree', 'french', 'tasty'])

Commenting

#default enabled=False, ~ every 4th image will be commented on

session.set_do_comment(enabled=True, percentage=25)
session.set_comments(['Awesome', 'Really Cool', 'I like your stuff'])

# you can also set comments for specific media types (Photo / Video)
session.set_comments(['Nice shot!'], media='Photo')
session.set_comments(['Great Video!'], media='Video')

Emoji Support

You can use Unicode characters (like Emoji) in your comments

1. You have to convert your comment to Unicode. This can safely be done by adding an u in front of the opening apostrophe:

session.set_comments([u'This post is 🔥',u'More emojis are always better 💯',u'I love your posts 😍😍😍']);

session.set_comments([u'Emoji text codes are also supported :100: :thumbsup: :thumbs_up: \u2764 💯💯']);

Emoji text codes are implemented using 2 different naming codes. A complete list of emojis codes can be found on the Python Emoji Github, but you can use the alternate shorted naming scheme found for Emoji text codes here. Note: Every Emoji has not been tested. Please report any inconsistancies.

Legacy Emoji Support

You can still use Unicode strings in your comments, but there are some limitations.

1. You can use only Unicode characters with no more than 4 characters and you have to use the unicode code (e. g. \u1234). You find a list of emoji with unicode codes on Wikipedia, but there is also a list of working emoji in /assets

2. You have to convert your comment to Unicode. This can safely be done by adding an u in front of the opening apostrophe: u'\u1234 some comment'

Following

#default enabled=False, follows ~ 10% of the users from the images, times=1 (only follows a user once (if unfollowed again))

session.set_do_follow(enabled=True, percentage=10, times=2)

Following by a list

#follows each account from a list of instagram nicknames (only follows a user once (if unfollowed again))
# would be useful for the precise targeting. For example, if one needs to get followbacks from followers of a chosen account/group of accounts.

accs = ['therock','natgeo']
session.follow_by_list(accs, times=1)

Excluding friends

#will prevent commenting on and unfollowing your good friends (the images will still be liked)

session.set_dont_include(['friend1', 'friend2', 'friend3'])

Interactions based on the number of followers a user has

#This is used to check the number of followers a user has and if this number exceeds the number set then no further interaction happens

session.set_upper_follower_count(limit = 250)

#This is used to check the number of followers a user has and if this number does not pass the number set then no further interaction happens

session.set_lower_follower_count(limit = 1)

Unfollowing

#unfollows 10 of the accounts you're following -> instagram will only unfollow 10 before you'll be 'blocked for 10 minutes' (if you enter a higher number than 10 it will unfollow 10, then wait 10 minutes and will continue then)

session.unfollow_users(amount=10)

Follow/Unfollow/exclude not working?

If you notice that one or more of the above functionalities are not working as expected - e.g. you have specified:

session.set_do_follow(enabled=True, percentage=10, times=2)

but none of the profiles are being followed - or any such functionality is misbehaving - then one thing you should check is the position/order of such methods in your script. Essentially, all the set_* methods have to be before like_by_tags or like_by_locations or unfollow. This is also implicit in all the exmples and quickstart.py

Running on a server?

#you can use the nogui parameter to use a virtual display

session = InstaPy(username='test', password='test', nogui=True)

Running InstaPy automated

You can add InstaPy to your crontab, so that the script will be executed regularly. This is especially useful for servers, but be sure not to break Instagrams follow and like limits.

An example:

# Edit or create a crontab
crontab -e
# Add information to execute your InstaPy regularly.
# With cd you navigate to your InstaPy folder, with the part after && you execute your quickstart.py with python. Make sure that those paths match your environment.
45 */4 * * * cd /home/user/InstaPy && /usr/bin/python ./quickstart.py

Clarifai ImageAPI

Note: Head over to https://developer.clarifai.com/signup/ and create a free account, once you’re logged in go to https://developer.clarifai.com/account/applications/ and create a new application. You can find the client ID and Secret there. You get 5000 API-calls free/month.

If you want the script to get your Clarifai_ID and Clarifai_Secret for your environment, you can do:

export CLARIFAI_ID="<ProjectID>"
export CLARIFAI_SECRET="<Project Secret>"

Example with Imagecontent handling

from instapy import InstaPy

InstaPy(username='test', password='test')\
  .login()\
  .set_do_comment(True, percentage=10)\
  .set_comments(['Cool!', 'Awesome!', 'Nice!'])\
  .set_dont_include(['friend1', 'friend2', 'friend3'])\
  .set_dont_like(['food', 'girl', 'hot'])\
  .set_ignore_if_contains(['pizza'])\
  .set_use_clarifai(enabled=True)\
  .clarifai_check_img_for(['nsfw'])\
  .clarifai_check_img_for(['food', 'lunch', 'dinner'], comment=True, comments=['Tasty!', 'Nice!', 'Yum!'])\
  .like_by_tags(['dog', '#cat'], amount=100)\
  .end()

Enabling Imagechecking

#default enabled=False , enables the checking with the clarifai api (image tagging)
#if secret and proj_id are not set, it will get the environment Variables
# 'Clarifai_SECRET' and 'CLARIFAI_ID'

session.set_use_clarifai(enabled=True, secret='xyz', proj_id='123')

Filtering inappropriate images

# uses the clarifai api to check if the image contains nsfw content
# -> won't comment if image is nsfw

session.clarifai_check_img_for(['nsfw'])

Specialized comments for images with specific content

#checks the image for keywords food and lunch, if both are found,
#comments with the given comments. If full_match is False (default), it only
# requires a single tag to match Clarifai results.

session.clarifai_check_img_for(['food', 'lunch'], comment=True, comments=['Tasty!', 'Yum!'], full_match=True)

Check out https://clarifai.com/demo to see some of the available tags.

Running it with Docker

Build the Image

Make sure to use the nogui feature:

#you can use the nogui parameter to use a virtual display

session = InstaPy(username='test', password='test', nogui=True)

You first need to build the image by running this in the Terminal:

docker build -t instapy .

Run in a Container

After the build succeeded, you can simply run the container with:

docker run --name=instapy -e INSTA_USER=<your-user> -e INSTA_PW=<your-pw> -d instapy

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Have Fun & Feel Free to report any issues