📸 Anonymous Instagram Story Viewer

View Instagram stories anonymously and extract story data including media URLs, thumbnails, timestamps, and metadata. This powerful Apify actor allows you to fetch Instagram stories from multiple users without logging in or revealing your identity.

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📑 Table of Contents

• ✨ Features
• 🚀 Quick Start
• 📥 Input Configuration
• 📤 Output Data
• 💡 Use Cases
• ⚙️ How It Works
• 🔧 Configuration Options
• 📊 Output Examples
• 🛠️ Best Practices
• ❓ FAQ
• 🔑 Search Terms

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✨ Features

✅ Anonymous Story Viewing - View Instagram stories without logging in or revealing your identity
✅ Bulk Story Extraction - Fetch stories from multiple Instagram accounts simultaneously
✅ High-Quality Media URLs - Extract direct URLs for images and videos in full resolution
✅ Thumbnail Support - Get thumbnail URLs for quick previews
✅ Metadata Extraction - Capture timestamps, expiration times, duration, and audio information
✅ Smart Username Parsing - Supports @username, plain usernames, and full Instagram URLs
✅ Rate Limiting Protection - Built-in delays between requests to avoid API throttling
✅ Error Handling - Robust error handling with automatic key rotation
✅ Apify Dataset Integration - Results automatically saved to Apify dataset for easy export

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🚀 Quick Start

1️⃣ Run the Actor

{
  "usernames": [
    "natgeo",
    "taylorswift",
    "@cristiano",
    "https://instagram.com/nasa"
  ]
}

2️⃣ Get Your Results

The actor will extract all available stories and save them to the Apify dataset with complete metadata including:

• Username
• Media URLs (images/videos)
• Thumbnails
• Timestamps
• Expiration times
• Media type
• Duration

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📥 Input Configuration

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
usernames	Array<String>	✅ Yes	-	List of Instagram usernames, @usernames, or full Instagram URLs

📝 Input Format Examples

{
  "usernames": [
    "natgeo",
    "@taylorswift",
    "https://instagram.com/cristiano",
    "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/"
  ]
}

✅ Supported Username Formats

Format	Example	Valid
Plain username	natgeo	✅
With @ symbol	@taylorswift	✅
Full Instagram URL	https://instagram.com/cristiano	✅
Instagram URL with www	https://www.instagram.com/nasa	✅

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📤 Output Data

Each story is saved as a separate record in the Apify dataset with the following structure:

📋 Output Schema

Field	Type	Description
username	String	Instagram username
user_id	String	Instagram user ID
story_url	String	Direct URL to the story media
media_type	String	Type of media: image, video, or unknown
media_url	String	High-quality media URL (video or image)
thumbnail_url	String	Thumbnail image URL
timestamp	String	ISO 8601 timestamp when story was posted
expires_at	String	ISO 8601 timestamp when story expires
duration	Number	Duration in seconds (for videos)

📄 Sample Output

{
  "username": "natgeo",
  "user_id": "25025320",
  "story_url": "https://instagram.com/...",
  "media_type": "video",
  "media_url": "https://instagram.fbpn3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/...",
  "thumbnail_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/...",
  "timestamp": "2025-11-10T08:15:30.000Z",
  "expires_at": "2025-11-11T08:15:30.000Z",
  "duration": 10
}

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💡 Use Cases

🎯 Marketing & Research

• Competitor Analysis - Monitor competitor Instagram stories and content strategy
• Influencer Research - Track influencer story content and posting patterns
• Brand Monitoring - Keep track of brand mentions and story content
• Market Research - Analyze story trends and content types in your industry

📊 Data Analysis

• Content Analytics - Analyze story posting frequency and timing
• Media Type Analysis - Track image vs video story usage
• Engagement Research - Study story content patterns and trends
• Archive Stories - Save and archive Instagram stories before they expire

🔍 Social Media Management

• Content Inspiration - Gather ideas from successful Instagram stories
• Trend Monitoring - Stay updated with the latest story trends
• Campaign Tracking - Monitor story-based marketing campaigns
• Backup & Archive - Create backups of important Instagram stories

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⚙️ How It Works

🔄 Process Flow

1️⃣ Input Validation
   ↓
2️⃣ Username Normalization (supports @username, URLs, plain text)
   ↓
3️⃣ Story Fetching (with automatic retry on failure)
   ↓
4️⃣ Data Transformation (standardized output format)
   ↓
6️⃣ Dataset Storage (saved to Apify dataset)

📊 Batch Processing

Limit the number of usernames processed:

{
  "usernames": ["user1", "user2", "user3", "user4", "user5"],
  "maxUsernames": 3
}

This will process only the first 3 usernames from the list.

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📊 Output Examples

🖼️ Image Story Example

{
  "username": "natgeo",
  "user_id": "25025320",
  "story_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/...",
  "media_type": "image",
  "media_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/...",
  "thumbnail_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/...",
  "timestamp": "2025-11-10T08:15:30.000Z",
  "expires_at": "2025-11-11T08:15:30.000Z",
  "has_audio": false,
  "duration": 0
}

🎥 Video Story Example

{
  "username": "natgeo",
  "user_id": "25025320",
  "story_url": "https://instagram.fbpn3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/...",
  "media_type": "video",
  "media_url": "https://instagram.fbpn3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t2/f2/m78/...",
  "thumbnail_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.71878-15/...",
  "timestamp": "2025-11-10T09:30:45.000Z",
  "expires_at": "2025-11-11T09:30:45.000Z",
  "has_audio": true,
  "duration": 41
}

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🛠️ Best Practices

✅ Do's

✔️ Validate usernames - Ensure usernames are valid before running
✔️ Handle missing stories - Not all users have active stories
✔️ Export data regularly - Stories expire after 24 hours

❌ Don'ts

✖️ Don't process too many users at once - Use maxUsernames to limit batch size

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❓ FAQ

❔ What is an Instagram story viewer?

An Instagram story viewer is a tool that allows you to view and extract Instagram stories without logging into Instagram or revealing your identity. This actor fetches story data including media URLs, thumbnails, and metadata.

❔ Do I need to log in to Instagram?

No! This actor works completely anonymously. You don't need to provide any Instagram credentials or log in to view stories.

❔ How long are Instagram stories available?

Instagram stories are available for 24 hours after posting. After that, they expire and are no longer accessible unless saved to highlights.

❔ What data can I extract from Instagram stories?

You can extract:

• High-quality media URLs (images and videos)
• Thumbnail images
• Posting timestamps
• Expiration times
• Media type (image/video)
• Video duration
• Audio availability
• User information

❔ How many stories can I fetch?

You can fetch stories from up to 100 usernames per run (configurable via maxUsernames). Each username may have multiple stories (typically 0-50 stories per user).

❔ What if a user has no stories?

If a user has no active stories, the actor will log an informational message and continue processing other usernames. No error will be thrown.

❔ Can I download the story media files?

Yes! The actor provides direct URLs to the media files. You can use these URLs to download images and videos programmatically or manually.

❔ How do I avoid rate limiting?

Use the delayBetweenRequests parameter to add delays between API calls. We recommend at least 2000ms (2 seconds) between requests.

❔ Can I use this for commercial purposes?

Yes, but ensure you comply with Instagram's Terms of Service and applicable data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.).

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🔑 Search Terms

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📞 Support & Issues

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

1. Check the FAQ section above
2. Review the input configuration to ensure correct format
3. Check the actor logs for detailed error messages

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Last updated: November 2025