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Does anybody know about the latest Instagram news: "Starting 10/1/2017, all permissions other than the basic permission will be unavailable to submit for or obtain."

What is truth to this? If we submit before, are they going to still check the submission? Do they plan to ban old approved API accesses too?

If anybody made it find a bit of info about this I would be very grateful. The news is kinda surprising and concerning with no explanation involved.

Thank you!

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Jozef
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    Probably it has something to do with the upcoming Instagram migration to Grap API: https://business.instagram.com/blog/new-instagram-api-features/ however that is only for business instagram acounts – Jozef Sep 20 '17 at 15:12
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    I am also looking for more information about this. Please update here if you learn anything! (I will do the same) – Michael S Sep 27 '17 at 01:43
  • I'm seeing this message too. I had to be logged out however. – tibbon Sep 27 '17 at 22:02
  • Hi guys, my update: we were making a submission for a use case we clearly satisfy (there are other apps doing it) and we were denied 5 times so far, changing the reasoning statements, very weird. Probably they do not plan to provide the old API already. What is a pity since not everybody has a business Instagram. – Jozef Sep 27 '17 at 23:56
  • @Jozef It's happening to us to. We have been denied 3 times so far and we meet all the criteria. The gave us the basic permissions and denied the rest. – Marc Sep 28 '17 at 12:35
  • My clients all have business instagram accounts. Which endpoint in FB instagram api is used to get a list of followers in the new api? I looked at `/user` and `/user/insights` endpoints but looks to me it's not available (yet). The old `follower_list` scope in the Instagram api has status **(applications no longer accepted)** In Instagram sandbox mode I tried this scope and can get my own list of followers but that probably would not work in production. – A.W. Jan 23 '18 at 12:52
  • @Guus - have you seen [this announcement](https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2018/01/30/instagram-graph-api-updates/)? (Jan 30 2018). It has details on the upcoming deprecations and new Graph API features - though from what I gather, there's a lot of key functionality being removed. – Ben Hull Jan 31 '18 at 04:24
  • @Beejamin Just read it and trying to get familiar with the Graph API. Currently I'm still using the old API and `Basic` scope is sufficient for me. But as stated in the announcement `Basic` will be available `until early 2020` I only need list of `user likes and comments` Don't see how to get list of likes with the new API, and media id's are all different. – A.W. Jan 31 '18 at 06:25

2 Answers2

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I tried to start a last minute review process for a website i was working on, after i read that instagram is about to close down access on its api. Yesterday my request was declined and now it is no longer possible to start a review process with any other permission than basic. They also updated their login permissions overview page. Any applications to permissions other than basic are no longer accepted.

This is really sad. I think Instagram is a great platform with lots of opportunities to create great services on top of it. It would be really interesting to know the strategy behind it. The graph api clearly isn't a replacement for the classic api, since it is limited to business accounts and therefore also supports only limited use cases.

internetzer
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  • Confirmed. This is really sad, I had the same experience – Mike Oct 03 '17 at 17:28
  • You're right, but there's an important distinction to be made: Instagram is not a platform, at least not in the way we normally mean it. – Ben Hull Jan 31 '18 at 04:25
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For what it's worth (not a true answer as I can't comment): we applied in August and were rejected once. Applied again for the correct brand / advertiser use case functionalities and were approved about 2 weeks ago. We continued our development of the app, knowing that

  • there is indeed a push towards the new Graph API (which severely limits data access and is only for Instagram business accounts)
  • Oct 1 is a deadline for new submissions.

As of this morning (Oct 4), our permissions have been removed (not revoked or declined "marked in red" but removed altogether, without any prior warning). So we spent several thousands of $ in development to build features which are no longer useful; e.g. content discovery.

This page https://help.instagram.com/contact/1701222010148021 mentions:

Starting October 1st, only submissions for basic permissions on the existing Instagram API will be reviewed. We will not be accepting submissions for public_content, follower_list, comments, relationship, or likes permission scopes. Developers are encouraged to build on the new Instagram Graph API.

It clearly refers to new submissions & encourages migration towards the Facebook Graph based API but does not explicitly mention banning existing permissions. That seems to be incorrect.

Trying to utilize the form to appeal previously rejected permissions results in a page not found. I hope this information is of use to anyone experiencing similar issues or serves as WARNING to those investing in any features around non-basic deprecated permissions.

tokyohans
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