Instagram locks out developers of third-party consumer apps | TechCrunch

A change to Meta’s developer tools is impacting third-party consumer apps that had previously integrated with Instagram. Among those affected by the changes are the Match-owned dating apps Tinder and Hinge, which had allowed their users to link their Instagram profiles to their accounts to display their posts to potential matches.

Day One, the journaling app that WordPress.com owner Automattic bought in 2021, is also losing a key piece of its functionality because of the change. The company announced on Friday that it will no longer have the ability to import users’ Instagram photos and posts into their journals, due to a change that impacts the abilities of developers to access Instagram data programmatically.

Meta first announced earlier this fall it would shut down access to the Instagram Basic Display API, on December 4, 2024, which is what had allowed third-party consumer apps to connect with their users’ Instagram accounts to access content like the user’s profile, images, videos, and albums.

Developers were asked to switch to the Instagram API instead to avoid disruption to their services, but as Day One notes, those new APIs only work for Instagram business accounts — not personal accounts. They also don’t provide the functionality that Day One had previously required to import Instagram content into its journals.

As a result, Day One users will no longer be able to automatically import their content from Instagram going forward, though their existing journal entries with Instagram photos will remain accessible.

The feature had previously been a selling point for Day One’s Premium version, billed annually at $34.99.

“We know this news is disappointing,” the company shared in a blog post. “At Day One, we’re committed to making journaling as seamless and meaningful as possible, and the Instagram integration was a way to help you bring your memories into your journal. The Instagram integration was a beloved feature that made it easy to bring your memories into your journal. We know many of you relied on it, and it was a favorite among our team as well,” it noted.

Another service that had used the deprecated API included Discord, which had pulled its Instagram connection earlier over lack of API support. Others impacted include those apps that pull in Instagram posts as website embeds, like Spotlight and SnapWidget. (The latter are recommending users switch to business accounts instead.)