downloading from instagram

[chaos1616]

i would like to use gallerydl to download from instagram but i just cannot afford to lose my current account and i really dont know what to do. i need some tips on how i can use gallery dl on instagram without getting banned. any help will be appreciated and i dont mind the downloads moving slow as far as my account doesn't get banned any strategy is valid. thanks

[mikf]

Not a definite answer since I have no idea what IG's internal logic for bot detection is, but you might want to use rather high values for --sleep-request and plain --sleep, for example:

gallery-dl --sleep-request 15-45 --sleep 2-10 ...

-o browser=firefox could also be useful to look more like an actual browser.

No guarantees, though.

I would have recommended instaloader, but it seems users there are also getting their accounts banned: https://github.com/instaloader/instaloader/issues/1738

[Kilobyte3189]

Gallery-dl currently works better for me than Instaloader. With Instaloader I get blocked or logged out in no time, with gallery-dl this doesn't happen to me.

[mikf]

Instaloader has the benefit of downloading higher-quality images in all circumstances. gallery-dl only does that for certain URLs (stories, highlights, single posts), but not for instagram.com/USER. (https://github.com/mikf/gallery-dl/issues/2666)

[github-userx]

@kilobyte3189 yeah Instagram got much stricter and better at limiting scraping. I remember 5 years ago how easily it was to just scrape entire accounts with thousands of images and even metadata requests without getting banned/locked account.

[viceroycowboy]

gallery-dl --sleep-request 15-45 --sleep 2-10 ...

Is there a difference to put it in line like

gallery-dl --sleep-request 15-45 --sleep 2-10

or to put in into a config like

"instagram":
        {
            "cookies": "instagram.com_cookies.txt",
            "include": "posts,stories,reels,highlights",
            "sleep-request" : "15-45",
            "sleep": "2-10",

?

[Hrxn]

Nope, it's the same thing ultimately..

[chaos1616]

Gallery-dl currently works better for me than Instaloader. With Instaloader I get blocked or logged out in no time, with gallery-dl this doesn't happen to me.

is there anything special flags you use or do you just use it as is?

[Kilobyte3189]

is there anything special flags you use or do you just use it as is?

I use gallery-dl without any special flags.

I download 30 to 50 posts or stories once a day in one go. I don't use VPN and have a mobile number connected to my account (0 followers). In my use case with my setup I have no problems. Instaloader gives up with the same account after only 10 posts in a row (when I download my USER/saved/) (HTTP error code 403). Then I get kicked and either can't log in for the day or have to change my password.

[afterdelight]

--sleep

what's --sleep for?

[Hrxn]

you can look up options like sleep for yourself...

[afterdelight]

yes it worked but it doesnt print log on verbose when downloading?

[afterdelight]

gallery-dl --sleep-request 15-45 --sleep 2-10 ...

Is there a difference to put it in line like

gallery-dl --sleep-request 15-45 --sleep 2-10

or to put in into a config like

"instagram":
        {
            "cookies": "instagram.com_cookies.txt",
            "include": "posts,stories,reels,highlights",
            "sleep-request" : "15-45",
            "sleep": "2-10",

?

Those include setting values will get your account banned very fast

[rexon113]

gallery-dl --sleep-request 15-45 --sleep 2-10 ...

Is there a difference to put it in line like gallery-dl --sleep-request 15-45 --sleep 2-10 or to put in into a config like

"instagram":
        {
            "cookies": "instagram.com_cookies.txt",
            "include": "posts,stories,reels,highlights",
            "sleep-request" : "15-45",
            "sleep": "2-10",

?

Those include setting values will get your account banned very fast

Could you elaborate on that? I'm currently in the process on downloading Instagram posts without getting banned too quickly or at all. Is it the fact you scrape everything of the profile which triggers Instagram bot detection? Is it better to just download, say, posts and highlights?