Facebook Photo Posts Scraper

Extract photo posts, comments, and engagement statistics from any public Facebook page without login. This tool gathers deep insights including exact reaction counts (Likes, Loves, Cares, etc.), top comments, and photo URLs, delivering structured data perfect for analysis, archiving, or monitoring.

---

What is Facebook Photo Posts Scraper?

Facebook Photo Posts Scraper is a robust data extraction tool designed for marketers, researchers, and developers who need detailed information from public Facebook pages. Unlike standard scrapers, it operates without requiring a Facebook account login, ensuring higher reliability and avoiding account ban risks.

The scraper intelligently utilizes Facebook's internal REST/GraphQL API to paginate through a page's feed efficiently. It automatically handles different media types (photo and multi-image posts), extracting all relevant metadata and captions. It runs seamlessly on the Apify platform using residential proxies to maintain access.

What Facebook data is publicly available to scrape?

Data Category	Publicly Available
Page Posts (Text, Date, ID)	Yes
Media (Images)	Yes
Reaction Counts (Like, Love, Haha, etc.)	Yes
Share & Comment Counts	Yes
Top Comments (Author, Text, Likes)	Yes
Video Views & Live Viewers	No (See Video Scraper)
Paid Partnership Tags	Yes
Private / Friends-Only Posts	No
Full Follower/Friend Lists	No
User Contact Information	No

What data can I extract with Facebook Photo Posts Scraper?

Identity & Ownership Fields

Field Name	Description
facebookUrl	The URL of the scraped Facebook page.
pageName	The real display name of the page.
facebookId	The unique numeric ID of the Facebook page owner.
postId	The unique identifier for the post.
url	The direct permalink URL to the specific post.
user	Object containing id, name, profileUrl, and profilePic of the post author.
collaborators	A list of collaborator names if the post is a joint post.

Engagement & Media Metric Fields

Field Name	Description
likes	Total number of generic likes on the post.
comments	Total number of comments on the post.
shares	Total number of shares.
reactionLikeCount	Specific count of 'Like' reactions.
reactionLoveCount	Specific count of 'Love' reactions.
reactionCareCount	Specific count of 'Care' reactions.
reactionHahaCount	Specific count of 'Haha' reactions.
reactionWowCount	Specific count of 'Wow' reactions.
reactionSadCount	Specific count of 'Sad' reactions.
reactionAngryCount	Specific count of 'Angry' reactions.
topReactionsCount	Number of different reaction types present on the post.
viewsCount	Video view count (applicable only to video posts).
videoPostViewCount	Post view count for video items.
liveViewerCount	Current live viewer count for live videos.

Content, Media & Comments Fields

Field Name	Description
time	ISO 8601 formatted string of the post creation time.
timestamp	Unix timestamp of the post creation.
text	The full text content/caption of the post.
paidPartnership	Boolean indicating if the post is marked as a paid partnership.
pageAdLibrary	Ad library information if available.
topComments	Array of top comments containing author, text, likesCount, date, etc.
media	Array containing media objects (photos) attached to the post.
feedbackId	Internal Facebook feedback node ID used for tracking.

Media-Type Specific Behavior

The scraper handles different media types dynamically:

• Image Posts: Returns an array in the media field where the first item is a mediaset_header (grouping information) and subsequent items are Photo objects containing the image url, thumbnail, and ocrText (if available). The isVideo field will be omitted.
• Video Posts: Returns a single Video object inside the media field containing the raw video metadata, thumbnail, and optionally a transcript. The isVideo field will be set to true, and fields like viewsCount and videoPostViewCount will be populated.
• Text-Only Posts: The media array will be empty, and no video-specific fields will be present.

How to configure Facebook Photo Posts Scraper

Configuration Options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
startUrls	Array	[{"url": "..."}]	List of public Facebook Page URLs you wish to scrape.
maxItems	Integer	20	Maximum number of posts to collect per page.
includeTranscript	Boolean	false	If true, fetches video captions when available.
proxyConfiguration	Object	RESIDENTIAL	Proxy settings (Residential Apify Proxy highly recommended).

Example Configuration

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/virat.kohli/" }
  ],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "includeTranscript": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

How to use Facebook Photo Posts Scraper

1. Sign up/Log in to your Apify account.
2. Navigate to this actor's page on the Apify Store and click "Try for free".
3. Set the Target: In the Input configuration, enter the URL of the Facebook page you want to scrape in the startUrls field (e.g., https://www.facebook.com/zuck).
4. Set Limits: Specify the maxItems to dictate how many posts you want to extract.
5. Run: Click the "Start" button. The actor will launch, utilizing residential proxies to securely fetch the data.
6. Download: Once the run completes, navigate to the "Storage" tab. Your data is available in the default dataset (and an additional RESULT dataset) in formats like JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Output Format

The actor outputs data in JSON format, creating one object per scraped post.

Example Output — Image Post

{
  "facebookUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/virat.kohli/",
  "postId": "123456789012345",
  "pageName": "Virat Kohli",
  "url": "https://www.facebook.com/virat.kohli/posts/123456789012345",
  "time": "2023-10-15T10:00:00.000Z",
  "timestamp": 1697364000,
  "user": {
    "id": "987654321",
    "name": "Virat Kohli",
    "profileUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/987654321",
    "profilePic": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/..."
  },
  "collaborators": [],
  "text": "Great victory today! Thanks for the support.",
  "likes": 500000,
  "comments": 15000,
  "shares": 5000,
  "topReactionsCount": 6,
  "reactionLikeCount": 400000,
  "reactionLoveCount": 95000,
  "reactionCareCount": 4000,
  "reactionHahaCount": 500,
  "reactionWowCount": 300,
  "reactionSadCount": 100,
  "reactionAngryCount": 100,
  "paidPartnership": false,
  "media": [
    {
      "mediaset_token": "pcb.123456789012345",
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/virat.kohli/posts/123456789012345",
      "comet_product_tag_feed_overlay_renderer": null
    },
    {
      "thumbnail": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/...jpg",
      "__typename": "Photo",
      "is_playable": false,
      "image": {
        "uri": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/...jpg"
      },
      "id": "112233445566",
      "__isMedia": "Photo",
      "ocrText": "Virat Kohli holding a bat"
    }
  ],
  "topComments": [
    {
      "commentUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/virat.kohli/posts/123456789012345?comment_id=55667788",
      "commentId": "55667788",
      "date": "2023-10-15T10:05:00.000Z",
      "text": "Legend!",
      "author": {
        "id": "223344",
        "name": "Fan Account",
        "url": "https://www.facebook.com/223344"
      },
      "likesCount": "1.5K"
    }
  ]
}

``

Field Reference (Complete)

Field Name	Type	Applies To	Description
facebookUrl	String	All	The source URL provided in the input.
postId	String	All	The unique ID of the post.
pageName	String	All	Real display name of the page.
url	String	All	Direct permalink to the post.
time	String	All	ISO 8601 creation time.
timestamp	Integer	All	Unix creation time.
user	Object	All	Details of the post author (id, name, pic).
collaborators	Array	All	Names of any collaborating pages.
text	String	All	Post caption or body text.
likes	Integer	All	Total like count.
comments	Integer	All	Total comment count.
shares	Integer	All	Total share count.
topReactionsCount	Integer	All	Number of unique reaction types on the post.
media	Array	All	Media attachments (Photos or Videos).
feedbackId	String	All	Internal Facebook feedback ID.
reactionLikeCount	Integer	All	Count of 'Like' reactions.
reactionLoveCount	Integer	All	Count of 'Love' reactions.
reactionCareCount	Integer	All	Count of 'Care' reactions.
reactionHahaCount	Integer	All	Count of 'Haha' reactions.
reactionWowCount	Integer	All	Count of 'Wow' reactions.
reactionSadCount	Integer	All	Count of 'Sad' reactions.
reactionAngryCount	Integer	All	Count of 'Angry' reactions.
paidPartnership	Boolean	All	Whether the post is sponsored/paid partnership.
topComments	Array	All	The top comments visible on the post.
topLevelUrl	String	All	Base URL constructed from owner ID and post ID.
facebookId	String	All	The numeric ID of the page owner.
inputUrl	String	All	Alias for the input URL.
isVideo	Boolean	Video Posts	True if the post contains a video.
viewsCount	Integer	Video Posts	Total video views.
videoPostViewCount	Integer	Video Posts	Post-specific video views.
liveViewerCount	Integer	Video Posts	Active live viewers (if currently live).
pageAdLibrary	Object	Ads	Ad library communication data (if applicable).

How does it work?

• Painless Initialization: The scraper starts by safely fetching the page's HTML to automatically detect necessary identifiers like the page ID and authentication tokens, without requiring cookies from a logged-in user.
• REST/GraphQL API: It targets Facebook's internal, publicly exposed GraphQL endpoints to fetch timeline feed units incrementally.
• Efficient Pagination: It extracts pages of posts consistently. For every page iteration, it pulls all available posts on that page before seamlessly continuing to the next.
• Smart Data Structuring: It deeply traverses Facebook's complex JSON payload to unify disparate fields (like finding reaction counts inside deep comet_sections) into a flat, predictable JSON output.

How does Facebook Photo Posts Scraper differ from the official Graph API?

Feature	Official Graph API	Facebook Photo Posts Scraper
Access Scope	Heavily restricted, requires approvals.	Accesses any public page data directly.
Account Requirement	Requires a Developer account & API keys.	None. Runs entirely anonymously.
Setup Time	Days/Weeks (App approval process).	Instant.
Media Type Support	Limited by permissions.	Full support for Photos and Captions.
Fields Returned	Often omits exact reaction breakdown.	Comprehensive breakdown of all reactions.

Rate Limits & Error Handling

To ensure longevity and reliability, this actor is designed to use Apify Residential Proxies.

• The script automatically continues paginating until it hits the maxItems limit or runs out of posts.
• If it encounters missing parameters or network blocks, it will safely skip to the next URL in your list or exit gracefully, ensuring whatever data was already collected is saved to your dataset.

Legal Considerations

This scraper extracts exclusively publicly available data accessible to any unauthenticated user navigating the web. It does not bypass logins, CAPTCHAs, or scrape private user data. It is your responsibility to ensure that your use of the extracted data complies with all applicable local laws, regulations, and terms of service. This is not legal advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it require a Facebook account? No, it runs entirely anonymously without needing any login cookies.

How many posts can I scrape? You can set maxItems to any number. It will scrape until it reaches that limit or until the page has no more public posts available.

Does it handle video posts? Yes. It specifically detects video posts and extracts video-specific statistics like viewsCount and videoPostViewCount.

Can I scrape private pages or groups? No. This tool only accesses data from public Facebook Pages that are visible without a login.

What Python version is required? The actor runs on Python 3.11 within the Apify Docker container.

What happens when Facebook changes its API? This scraper relies on internal GraphQL structures. If Facebook makes significant changes, the scraper may require updates. Apify actors are easy to update once patched.

Can I scrape multiple pages at once? Yes! Just add multiple URLs to the startUrls array in the input configuration.

How are the results saved? Results are saved to the default dataset and a named dataset called RESULT. They can be downloaded in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML formats.

Troubleshooting

• Empty results or "Failed to initialize": Ensure the URL is a public Facebook Page (not a personal profile locked to public viewing). Double-check that your proxy settings are configured to use Residential proxies.
• Missing Posts: Facebook sometimes restricts chronological pagination for unauthenticated users after a certain depth. Using high-quality residential proxies mitigates this.
• 429 rate limiting: If you scrape too aggressively, Facebook may temporarily block the IP. Ensure you are utilizing a pool of Residential proxies.

Changelog / Version History

• v1.0.0: Initial release. Added async support, comprehensive proxy integration, and dynamic GraphQL pagination.