# Instagram LIST / REMOVE Followings (`saswave/instagram-list-remove-followings`) Actor

List all the accounts you are following for data analysis. Then provide a list of following to be removed. Help you clean your instagram feed page by removing bot accounts and not active followers

- **URL**: https://apify.com/saswave/instagram-list-remove-followings.md
- **Developed by:** [SASWAVE](https://apify.com/saswave) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Social media, Travel
- **Stats:** 78 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 6 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.90 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### Instagram Following Manager – List & Remove Followers

Powerful Instagram automation tool to list all your followings and remove inactive or bot accounts automatically.

This actor helps you clean, optimize and manage your Instagram account by exporting your followings list and removing unwanted profiles in bulk.

Perfect for:

Instagram growth automation

Social media cleanup

Influencer account management

Bot detection

Audience analysis

Lead clean-up

Marketing optimization

### Features

### ✅ List Instagram Followings

Extract your whole list of Instagram followings for:

data analysis

follower audits

export to CSV / database

engagement review

### ❌ Remove Instagram Followings

Provide a list of accounts to unfollow automatically:

bot accounts

inactive users

fake users

spam accounts

irrelevant profiles

### Why use this Instagram Scraper?

Save hours of manual work

Improve account quality and performance

Reduce low-quality connections

Optimize your Instagram feed

Automate cleaning tasks

Ideal for influencers, marketers, agencies and brands

Another actor that could help you boost your instagram : https://apify.com/saswave/instagram-list-remove-followers

### How to extract cookies from your browser

![Screenshot cookies extraction](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/devsaswave/assets-saswave/refs/heads/main/Instagram_copy_cookies.png "Cookies extracted should be provided as input")

- install EditThisCookie chrome extension
- login to your account and go to your instagram home page
- Use the extension and click "export"
- Paste the cookies in the input "cookies" from the actor

The apify documentation has a tutorial on how to do it with screenshots, https://docs.apify.com/tutorials/log-in-by-transferring-cookies#export-your-cookies go to the export your cookies section

### Inputs

- cookies: a list of cookies exported to your clipboard with the chrome extension "EditThisCookie"
  from your session logged in instagram

- list of following to remove: each element of the list can be one of the 3 format (exemple bellow)
  **\["leomessi", "https://www.instagram.com/lvmh/", "173560420"]**

Only to be provided if you want to use the REMOVE feature, else it can be ignored

### Data Extracted

instagram_id, username, fullname, link

### Use cases

Clean fake followers

Remove inactive accounts

Instagram audience audit

Influencer account cleaning

Lead list validation

Market research

Community management

CRM enrichment

Social media automation

### 🛟 SUPPORT

Share your runs with the developer team and create issues on error to help us improve actor quality.

You might discover edge case we didn't test yet

We stay available anytime

# Actor input Schema

## `cookies` (type: `array`):

Extract cookie session with EditThisCookie while being logged in (check actor information)

## `followings_to_remove` (type: `array`):

Can be username, url or instagram id. Removing followers that don't interact with your content (bots) will help to have better reach and engagement metrics

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "followings_to_remove": []
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "followings_to_remove": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("saswave/instagram-list-remove-followings").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "followings_to_remove": [] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("saswave/instagram-list-remove-followings").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "followings_to_remove": []
}' |
apify call saswave/instagram-list-remove-followings --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,saswave/instagram-list-remove-followings"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/v14N3wKcu0QIJnWxi/builds/CWF4TU7hvslnQEpqt/openapi.json