How to Generate Instagram Access Token

You can actually grow your business faster letting your users log in to your application by their profile information. This is a win-win both for the customers and for you. That’s because your users can access or login to your application or services with just a single tap and you get all his/her details like email and name.

What can be a better way to collect leads than this? With the help of Instagram Access Token, your customers can request on behalf of you to give you his/her details. If you are using WooCommerce, you can use this method to collect user details.

But how to collect the Instagram Access Token? In this article, we will be showing you easy ways to get the Instagram access token. So, sit tight and go ahead!

Method 1: Getting Instagram Access Token for Non-developers

Follow this method if you don’t have any programming knowledge:

Navigate to developer.facebook.com. Next, click on My Apps.

Now, select “Create App”.

Select for Everything else:

Fill out the App Display Name, App Contact Email and hit the “Create App ID” button.

Next up, click the “Add Platform” button:

Select your platform. In this case, we are choosing the “website”.

Provide your website URL and save changes:

Now, go to the Product option:

Now, select “Set Up” from Instagram Basic Display:

Now, scroll all the way down below to “Create New App”.

You will see a popup window. All you need to do is to provide a Display Name and hit the “Create App” button.

Now, provide your website URL to the following fields and make sure to save changes:

Go to the Roles-> Roles option and select the “Add Instagram Testers” option:

Provide your Instagram username URL:

Now login to your Instagram profile then go to Edit Profile > Apps and Websites> Tester Invites. You will be able to see the invitation. Make sure to accept the invitation:

Now, go to the developer.facebook.com > Products > Instagram Basic Display > Basic Display > User Token Generator > Hit the “Generate Token” button:

Continue with your account:

Hit continue again:

Voila! Here is your Instagram access token:

If you are a developer and want to create an Instagram access token then proceed to method 2.

Method 2: Create Instagram Access Token (For Developers)

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Get Authorization

Instagram will redirect your users to your app and include an authorization code right after a user logs in and chooses which data to allow your app to access. With this authorization code, you will then be able to exchange for a short-lived access token.

To start off the process, you will need to find the Authorization Window and show it to the user:

https://api.instagram.com/oauth/authorize
  ?client_id={instagram-app-id}
  &redirect_uri={redirect-uri}
  &scope={scope}
  &response_type=code
  &state={state}        //Optional

Query String Parameters

All parameters except state are required.

Parameter	Sample Value	Description
client_id Required Numeric string	990602627938098	Your Instagram App ID displayed in App Dashboard > Products > Instagram > Basic Display.
redirect_uri Required String	https://socialsizzle.herokuapp.com/auth/	A URI where Instagram will redirect users after they allow or deny permission requests. You have to make sure that this URI exactly matches one of the base URIs in your list of valid oAuth URIs. Please note that Instagram recommends you verify by checking the list as the App Dashboard may have added a trailing slash to your URIs.
response_type Required String	code	Set this value to code.
scope Required Comma- or space-separated list	user_profile,user_media	A comma-separated list, or URL-encoded space-separated list, of permissions to request from the app user. user_profile is required.
state String	1	An optional value indicates a server-specific state. For instance, you can use this to protect against CSRF issues. When redirecting the user back to you, Instagram will include this parameter and value.

Sample Authorization Window URL

https://api.instagram.com/oauth/authorize
  ?client_id=990602627938098
  &redirect_uri=https://socialsizzle.herokuapp.com/auth/
  &scope=user_profile,user_media
  &response_type=code

Successful Authorization

In the event of a successful authorization, Instagram will redirect your user to your [redirect_uri]. After that Instagram will pass you an Authorization code through the query string parameter [code]. All you need to do is to capture the code so that you can enable your app to exchange it for a temporary Instagram User Access Token.

Please note that the Authorization Codes are valid for 1 hour and you can only use it once.

Here is a Sample Successful Authentication Redirect:

https://socialsizzle.herokuapp.com/auth/?code=AQBx-hBsH3...#_

Please note that though the #_ will be appended to the end of the redirect URI, it does not belong to the code itself therefore you can remove it.

Canceled Authorization

Not always the user will complete the authorization flow. In case the user does not complete the authorization follow, Instagram will redirect your user to the redirect_uri and append the following error parameters. 

In this situation, you can display an appropriate message to your users.

Parameter	Value
error	access_denied
error_reason	user_denied
error_description	The+user+denied+your+request

Sample Canceled Authorization Redirect

https://socialsizzle.herokuapp.com/auth/?error=access_denied
  &error_reason=user_denied
  &error_description=The+user+denied+your+request

Step 2: Exchange the Code For a Token

When you receive a code, you will need to exchange it for a temporary access token. You can do it just by sending POST request to the following endpoint:

POST https://api.instagram.com/oauth/access_token

Body Parameters

Now you will have to include the following parameters in your POST request body.

Parameter	Sample Value	Description
client_id Required Numeric string	990602627938098	Your Instagram App ID displayed in App Dashboard > Products > Instagram > Basic Display.
client_secret Required String	a1b2C3D4	Your Instagram App Secret displayed in App Dashboard > Products > Instagram > Basic Display.
code Required String	AQBx-hBsH3...	The authorization code Instagram passes you in the code parameter when redirecting the user to your redirect_uri.
grant_type Required String	authorization_code	Set this value to authorization_code.
redirect_uri Required String	https://socialsizzle. heroku.com/auth/	The redirect URI you passed us when you directed the user to our Authorization Window. This must be the same URI or Instagram will reject the request.

Sample Request

curl -X POST \
  https://api.instagram.com/oauth/access_token \
  -F client_id=990602627938098 \
  -F client_secret=eb8c7... \
  -F grant_type=authorization_code \
  -F redirect_uri=https://socialsizzle.herokuapp.com/auth/ \
  -F code=AQBx-hBsH3...

Sample Success Response

There you go! If the response is successful, the API will return a JSON payload containing the app user’s short-lived access token and User ID.

{
  "access_token": "IGQVJ...",
  "user_id": 17841405793187218
}

Now that you got the Access Token, you can easily capture the access_token value. By using this short-lived Instagram user access token you can allow your app to access Instagram Basic Display API endpoints.

Sample Rejected Response

The API will return an error if the request is malformed.

{
  "error_type": "OAuthException",
  "code": 400,
  "error_message": "Matching code was not found or was already used"
}

Conclusion

We hope this article will help you to get the Instagram Access Token in the easiest way. If you think there is an even easier way, don’t hesitate to share with us so that we can all get benefitted. Thanks in advance!

Related Topic: Learn How to Add Instagram Feed on Your WordPress Website.

Instagram Feed

Courtesy: developer.facebook.com,