👥 Instagram Follow / Unfollow Bot

An Actor that automatically follows or unfollows Instagram users. Built with Pay-Per-Event (PPE) charging — you only pay for successful actions.

---

✨ Features

• ➕ Follow or ➖ unfollow Instagram users in bulk
• 💳 Pay-Per-Event (PPE) billing — charged only on success
• 🛡️ Early-stop protection on rate limits or Instagram blocks
• 🔗 Auto-deduplication — no username is processed twice per run
• 🌐 Optional proxy support for reduced ban risk

---

🚀 Quick Start

1. Get Your Instagram Cookies

The most reliable login method is exporting cookies directly from your browser:

1. Open instagram.com and log in
2. Install the Cookie-Editor Chrome extension
3. Click the extension → Export → Export as JSON
4. Paste the JSON array into the Instagram Cookies input field

2. Choose Your Action

Select either Follow Users or Unfollow Users from the Action dropdown.

3. Add Target Usernames

Enter the Instagram usernames you want to follow or unfollow (without the @ symbol):

natgeo
nasa
instagram

4. Run the Actor

Set your limits and hit Start. Results are pushed to the dataset in real time.

---

🔧 Input Configuration

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
cookies	Array (JSON)	✅ Yes	—	Browser cookie export from instagram.com. Use Cookie-Editor → Export as JSON
action	String (select)	✅ Yes	follow	Choose follow to follow users or unfollow to unfollow them
usernames	Array (strings)	✅ Yes	—	List of target Instagram usernames (without @)
maxActionsPerRun	Integer	No	20	Max follow/unfollow actions per run. Range: 1–100
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	—	Optional proxy settings. Residential proxies recommended

Example Input — Follow

{
  "cookies": [
    { "name": "sessionid", "value": "YOUR_SESSION_ID" },
    { "name": "csrftoken", "value": "YOUR_CSRF_TOKEN" }
  ],
  "action": "follow",
  "usernames": ["natgeo", "nasa", "instagram"],
  "maxActionsPerRun": 20
}

Example Input — Unfollow

{
  "cookies": [
    { "name": "sessionid", "value": "YOUR_SESSION_ID" },
    { "name": "csrftoken", "value": "YOUR_CSRF_TOKEN" }
  ],
  "action": "unfollow",
  "usernames": ["old_account1", "old_account2"],
  "maxActionsPerRun": 20
}

---

📊 Output Format

Each processed username is pushed to the Apify dataset with the following structure:

{
  "username": "natgeo",
  "action": "follow",
  "status": "success",
  "message": "✅ Followed @natgeo",
  "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:30:00.000000"
}

Status Values

Status	Meaning
success	Action completed successfully
failed	User not found or a generic error occurred
blocked	Instagram blocked the action (FeedbackRequired)
rate_limited	Too many requests — actor stops early to protect the account
auth_error	Session expired or a challenge is required

---

💳 Pay-Per-Event (PPE) Pricing

This actor uses Apify's Pay-Per-Event model — you only pay for what actually happens:

Event	Description
login-success	Charged once when login succeeds
action-completed	Charged once per successful follow or unfollow
task-completed	Charged once when the run finishes

⚠️ Important Notes

Authentication

• Cookies expire — If you get authentication errors, export fresh cookies from your browser

Rate Limits

• Instagram may rate limit aggressive scraping
• Use delays between (built-in 3s delay)

📞 Support

If you encounter issues or have questions:

• Check the actor's run log for detailed error messages
• Ensure your cookies are fresh and valid
• Try reducing the amount parameter
• Contact support with your run details

🔒 Privacy & Data

• Your cookies are used only for authentication during the run
• No credentials are stored after the actor finishes
• Respect Instagram's Terms of Service and users' privacy

---