Snapchat Stories Spotlight Scraper

Turn public Snapchat profiles into a clean dataset of Stories, Highlights, and Spotlight — no login, no downloads.

Public pages only · one row per snap · missing values stay null

Why this Actor?

Feature	What you get
Stories + Highlights + Spotlight	One Actor, one dataset. Filter with sources if you only need one surface.
Public profiles	Paste handles like fcbarcelona or nasa. No cookies, no friends-only content.
Clean export	Title, timestamp, media URLs, Spotlight views/shares, status. CSV stays flat. Missing values stay null.
Fast runs	One public request per profile. Two brands typically finish in a few seconds.
Hard caps	maxItems and maxItemsPerUser stop a run before it wanders.
Incremental re-runs	postedAfter drops older timestamps. Missing timestamps are kept, never invented.
Honest failures	SUCCESS, PARTIAL, NOT_FOUND, BLOCKED, ERROR on the row. Empty is empty — not a fake snap.
No media download	Public CDN URL strings only. Video bytes stay on Snapchat.

Quick start

1. Open Snapchat Stories Spotlight Scraper on Apify Console and click Start.
2. Add public usernames or https://www.snapchat.com/@user URLs.
3. Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

{
  "usernames": ["fcbarcelona", "nasa"],
  "sources": ["story", "highlight", "spotlight"],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "maxItemsPerUser": 20,
  "includeEngagement": true
}

How it works

Public handles  →  public Snapchat pages  →  one dataset row per Story, Highlight, or Spotlight

Stories expire. When a live Story is empty, Highlights and Spotlight still export.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
usernames	string[]	one of usernames / startUrls	[]	Public handles. Converted only to https://www.snapchat.com/@user.
startUrls	string[] / {url}	one of usernames / startUrls	[]	Public profile or Spotlight URLs.
sources	story | highlight | spotlight[]	no	all three	Which surfaces to collect.
maxItems	integer	no	50	Run-wide cap (1–200).
maxItemsPerUser	integer	no	20	Per-username cap (1–50).
postedAfter	ISO-8601 string	no	—	Keep items at or after this time. Missing timestamps are kept.
includeEngagement	boolean	no	true	Copy Spotlight view/share/comment/boost/recommend counts. Comment bodies are never collected.

Rejected: search, feed, explore, login, private, or non-HTTPS URLs.

Output

One row per Story snap, Highlight snap, or Spotlight item. Profile identity is copied onto every row so CSV export stays useful.

{
  "contentType": "spotlight",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://www.snapchat.com/@fcbarcelona/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZGdqcHJkbGVoAaC_PXEQAaC_PWwoAAAAAw",
  "username": "fcbarcelona",
  "displayName": "FC Barcelona",
  "snapId": "W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZGdqcHJkbGVoAaC_PXEQAaC_PWwoAAAAAw",
  "highlightId": null,
  "spotlightId": "W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZGdqcHJkbGVoAaC_PXEQAaC_PWwoAAAAAw",
  "storyId": "W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYZGdqcHJkbGVoAaC_PXEQAaC_PWwoAAAAAw",
  "title": "HISTORIC START",
  "description": "#fcbarcelona",
  "llmTitle": "FC Barcelona Team Huddle Moment | Estrella Damm 'Good Day' Feature",
  "timestamp": "2026-09-20T14:34:28.776Z",
  "durationMs": 10070,
  "width": 540,
  "height": 960,
  "mediaType": "VIDEO",
  "mediaUrl": "https://bolt-gcdn.sc-cdn.net/bp/TVnFSjAhZtGteRP7CPXgL.27.IRZXSOY",
  "mediaPreviewUrl": "https://bolt-gcdn.sc-cdn.net/bp/TVnFSjAhZtGteRP7CPXgL.256.IRZXSOY",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://bolt-gcdn.sc-cdn.net/bp/TVnFSjAhZtGteRP7CPXgL.256.IRZXSOY",
  "viewCount": 7298,
  "shareCount": 150,
  "commentCount": 16,
  "boostCount": 885,
  "recommendCount": 115,
  "hashtags": ["#fcbarcelona"],
  "status": "SUCCESS",
  "observedAt": "2026-09-21T20:17:06.682Z",
  "httpStatus": 200
}

Media URLs expire. Recording a URL is not a download.

Field	Type	Description
contentType	string	story, highlight, or spotlight.
canonicalUrl	string	Public page URL.
username	string	Public handle.
displayName	string | null	Public display name.
snapId	string | null	Story or Highlight snap id.
highlightId	string | null	Highlight group id.
spotlightId	string | null	Spotlight id.
storyId	string | null	Parent story id.
title	string | null	Title when Snap publishes one.
description	string | null	Description when Snap publishes one.
llmTitle	string | null	Caption string from Snapchat, not generated here.
timestamp	string | null	ISO timestamp.
durationMs	integer | null	Duration in milliseconds (common on Spotlight).
width / height	integer | null	Pixel size when Snap sends it.
mediaType	string | null	IMAGE or VIDEO when observed.
mediaUrl	string | null	Public CDN URL string. Never downloaded.
mediaPreviewUrl	string | null	Public preview URL string.
thumbnailUrl	string | null	Public thumbnail URL string.
viewCount	integer | null	Spotlight views. Stories/Highlights usually null.
shareCount	integer | null	Spotlight shares.
commentCount	integer | null	Spotlight comment count only.
boostCount	integer | null	Spotlight boosts.
recommendCount	integer | null	Spotlight recommends.
hashtags	string[] | null	Observed hashtags.
status	string	SUCCESS | PARTIAL | NOT_FOUND | BLOCKED | ERROR.
observedAt	string	When this Actor saw the page.
httpStatus	integer	HTTP status of the public request.

Story and Highlight rows often leave duration, size, and engagement as null because Snap does not publish those fields there. Spotlight usually fills them.

Cost, limits, proxy

• Memory: 512 MB default, 1024 MB max.
• Concurrency: one profile at a time, about 2 seconds between requests.
• Proxy: none. Direct public HTTPS.
• Expected runtime: 2 profiles in a few seconds. ~10 profiles under a minute. ~100 profiles several minutes.
• Platform compute for 10 profiles is typically well under $0.01. No residential proxy bill.

Recipes

One public profile

{
  "usernames": ["nasa"],
  "sources": ["story", "highlight", "spotlight"],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "maxItemsPerUser": 20,
  "includeEngagement": true
}

Spotlight only, two brands

{
  "usernames": ["fcbarcelona", "nasa"],
  "sources": ["spotlight"],
  "maxItems": 40,
  "maxItemsPerUser": 20,
  "includeEngagement": true
}

Highlights after a date

{
  "usernames": ["nasa"],
  "sources": ["highlight"],
  "postedAfter": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "maxItems": 50,
  "maxItemsPerUser": 20
}

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
BLOCKED	The public page challenged the request (login wall, rate limit, or similar)	Use another public profile later. This Actor does not log in or rotate proxies.
NOT_FOUND	Handle is gone or never public	Check the username. No fake snaps are invented.
ERROR	The public page was not readable	Retry later. Check httpStatus on the row.
Empty live Story	Stories expire	Switch sources to highlight / spotlight, or wait for a new Story.
Engagement is null	Snap does not publish counts on Stories/Highlights	Use sources: ["spotlight"] when you need views.
Media URL fails later	CDN links expire	Expected. Save metadata, not the file.

FAQ

Q: Does this log in or use my Snapchat account? A: No. Public pages only. No cookies, tokens, or session reuse.

Q: Can it scrape private or friends-only Snaps? A: No. If the page is not public, the row is NOT_FOUND or BLOCKED.

Q: Why are some fields null? A: Snap does not send them on that surface. Null means absent, not a bug. Values are never invented.

Q: Will it download videos? A: No. It copies public media URL strings. It never downloads Snap CDN files.

Q: How much does a run cost? A: HTTP, 512 MB, no proxy. Two public profiles finish in a few seconds. Ten profiles are typically well under a cent of platform compute.

Q: Can I add a residential proxy or a browser? A: Not in this Actor. Protection is classified as BLOCKED.

Q: Are comments included? A: Comment counts on Spotlight, when Snap publishes them. Comment bodies, transcripts, emails, phones, and location are never collected.

Q: Can I copy or republish this Actor? A: No. This Actor is proprietary. You may run it on Apify. You may not rebrand, republish, or claim authorship. See ./LICENSE.

Limitations

• Public data only. You are responsible for Snapchat Terms of Service and privacy law (GDPR/CCPA) for your use of the dataset.
• First page of each public profile. No unbounded crawl.
• No CAPTCHA solving, cookie harvesting, stealth, or proxy rotation.
• Media URLs expire. Do not treat them as permanent storage.
• llmTitle is a Snapchat-emitted public string, not this Actor's AI.

Run it

Open the Actor on Apify Console and click Start.

License

Proprietary. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2026 REXREUS.

You may run this Actor on Apify. You may not copy, rebrand, republish, or claim this Actor as your own. See ./LICENSE.