Facebook Reels Scraper

Facebook Reels Scraper

Facebook Reels Scraper is an Apify actor that collects public Reels from Facebook profiles you choose — captions, timing, and media details land straight in your Apify dataset. It solves the challenge of reliably discovering and extracting structured Reels metadata at scale from Facebook pages and profiles. Built for marketers, developers, data analysts, and researchers, this Facebook Reels scraping tool streams results as they are found, enabling automation pipelines for monitoring, analysis, or building your own reel archive. Use residential proxies for the most stable runs and fewer blocks. 🚀

What data / output can you get?

Below are the top-level fields the actor saves for each Reel. Values are streamed to the run’s Dataset, which you can export to JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Data field	Description	Example value
facebookUrl	Base profile/page URL associated with the Reel	https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/
inputUrl	The fetched Reel URL	https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456
topLevelUrl	Top-level post URL pattern built from post ID (if available)	https://facebook.com/1234567890123456/posts/undefined/
topLevelReelUrl	Shareable Reel URL (normalized with trailing “/”)	https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456/
text	Caption or message text extracted from the Reel	Protecting our oceans starts with...
time	Publication timestamp in ISO format (UTC)	2026-03-10T14:22:00.000Z
playCountRounded	Numeric play count parsed from “play_count_reduced”	1200000
play_count_reduced	Abbreviated play count string from Facebook	1.2M
shareable_url	Shareable link for the Reel (when available)	https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456
video_owner_type	Owner type enum from Facebook	FACEBOOK_USER
is_original_audio_on_facebook	Whether the audio is original on Facebook	true
is_passive_content	Passive-content flag from the page JSON	false
track_title	Track title, falls back to “	Leonardo DiCaprio · Original audio

Bonus/advanced objects (structured JSON):

• attachments
• tracking
• video
• playback_video
• video_owner
• fb_shorts_reshare_context
• remix_info
• soundtrack_info
• music_album_art_uri
• if_should_change_url_for_reels
• self_view_boost

Note: Depending on each Reel, some nested objects may be partial or empty. All records stream to the Dataset for one-click export (JSON, CSV, Excel) from the Apify UI.

Key features

• 🔎 Precise Reel discovery & parsing — Harvests Reel IDs from profile and “Reels” tab HTML, then fetches each Reel page to extract structured metadata, captions, timing, and media context.
• 🧮 Scalable per‑profile limits — Control volume with Max Reels per profile (resultsLimit) up to 10,000 per profile, ideal for bulk download Facebook Reels workflows and large studies.
• ⏱️ Time-based filtering — Use Only posts newer than to include only recent Reels (absolute date or rolling windows like “7 days”), perfect for ongoing monitoring.
• 🔁 Robust pagination — Uses a resolved GraphQL doc_id to paginate profile Reels beyond the first page where available, acting as a reliable FB Reels crawler for deeper archives.
• 🚦 Resilience & retries — Built-in backoff and retry logic for HTTP/GraphQL calls to reduce throttling and improve success rates at scale.
• 🔒 Proxy-ready — Full Apify Proxy support (RESIDENTIAL recommended) for lower block rates; your proxy settings apply to all HTTP requests in the run.
• 📤 Streaming output — Rows appear in your Dataset as soon as each Reel is saved; no need to wait for the entire job to finish to start analysis.
• 👩‍💻 Developer-friendly — Use it as a Facebook Reels data extractor in automation scenarios via the Apify API; integrate in data pipelines for Facebook Reels analytics scraper use cases.
• 🎧 Media context included — Captures shareable_url, playback_video, audio availability flags, and track metadata that can feed a Facebook Reels downloader or “download Facebook Reels with audio” pipeline.

How to use Facebook Reels Scraper - step by step

1. Create or log in to your Apify account.
2. Open the Facebook Reels Scraper actor in Apify.
3. Paste your profile inputs under “Profile URLs” (startUrls). You can provide:
   • Full Facebook profile/page links (e.g., https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/)
   • Usernames without https:// (e.g., LeonardoDiCaprio) — the actor resolves them.
4. Set “Max Reels per profile” (resultsLimit) to control how many Reels you collect from each profile (1–10,000).
5. (Optional) Set “Only posts newer than” (onlyPostsNewerThan) to filter by date or a relative window (e.g., “7 days”).
6. Configure “Proxy” (proxyConfiguration). Residential proxies are recommended for the best stability on Facebook.
7. Start the run. As the actor discovers Reels, it fetches each Reel page and streams records into the Dataset.
8. Export your results from the Dataset in JSON, CSV, or Excel for analysis, reporting, or to power a Facebook video scraper for Reels pipeline.

Pro Tip: Schedule the actor or call it via the Apify API to automate a Facebook Reels scraper bot that keeps your datasets fresh without manual effort.

Use cases

Use case	Description
Social media analytics for Reels	Track recent content, captions, and play counts to benchmark creators and pages with a Facebook Reels analytics scraper.
Brand monitoring & trend spotting	Monitor profiles at scale and surface emerging topics and formats using a Facebook Reels scraping tool.
Content archiving & research	Build a structured archive of public Reels (text, timing, media context) for longitudinal studies.
Competitive analysis for creators	Compare cadence, format, and engagement signals across competitors by scraping Facebook Reels videos at scale.
Data engineering pipeline (API)	Automate a FB Reels crawler that exports JSON for ingestion into warehouses or BI tools.
Academic & non-profit studies	Collect public metadata to analyze narratives, topics, and media patterns across communities.
QA & compliance checks	Verify public posts and audio metadata for brand safety and policy reviews in bulk.

Why choose Facebook Reels Scraper?

Built for precision, scale, and operational reliability — without fragile browser automation.

• ✅ Accurate, structured extraction: Collects key top-level fields plus nested media/owner context for each Reel.
• 📈 Built for scale: Paginated discovery and per‑profile caps support bulk download Facebook Reels scenarios.
• 👩‍💻 Developer access: Trigger runs and export data programmatically via the Apify API for automation.
• 🔒 Stable with proxies: Designed to run with residential proxies to reduce blocks on Facebook.
• 🛡️ Public data only: Targets publicly available Reels — no login, cookies, or private data access.
• 💸 Cost-effective operations: Streamed results and tunable limits keep runs efficient and predictable.
• 🔗 Workflow-ready: Export to CSV/JSON/Excel and connect to downstream tools for a Facebook Reels automation tool setup.

In short, this is a production-ready Facebook video scraper for Reels that outperforms brittle extensions and one-off scripts.

Is it legal / ethical to use Facebook Reels Scraper?

Yes — when done responsibly. This actor is designed to collect publicly available Reels data from Facebook profiles and pages.

Guidelines for compliant use:

• Only target public profiles and public Reels.
• Avoid collecting or sharing personal or sensitive data.
• Respect platform rules and applicable laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) in your jurisdiction.
• Use residential proxies responsibly to reduce request noise and throttling.
• When in doubt, consult your legal team about your specific use case.

The tool does not access private profiles, authenticated data, or login-only content.

Input parameters & output format

Example input

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.facebook.com/people/Emily-Olivia/61563061022550/",
    "LeonardoDiCaprio"
  ],
  "resultsLimit": 10,
  "onlyPostsNewerThan": "7 days",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

Parameter reference

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
startUrls	array of strings	Yes	—	One per line. Accepts full profile links (e.g., facebook.com/YourPage or /people/…) or bare usernames without https://.
resultsLimit	integer (1–10,000)	No	10	Stop after this many Reels per profile (newest-first where available).
onlyPostsNewerThan	string	No	""	Time filter. Absolute date (YYYY-MM-DD / ISO) or relative window like “7 days” or “2 weeks”. Leave blank for no cutoff.
proxyConfiguration	object	No	— (prefill: useApifyProxy: true, RESIDENTIAL)	Route traffic through Apify Proxy (RESIDENTIAL recommended for Facebook). Applies to all HTTP requests in this run.

Example output (successful Reel)

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/",
  "facebookUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456",
  "topLevelUrl": "https://facebook.com/1234567890123456/posts/undefined/",
  "topLevelReelUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456/",
  "text": "Protecting our oceans starts with...",
  "time": "2026-03-10T14:22:00.000Z",
  "playCountRounded": 1200000,
  "attachments": [],
  "tracking": { "top_level_post_id": "1234567890123456" },
  "self_view_boost": null,
  "video": { "id": "1234567890123456", "__typename": "Video", "embeddable": true },
  "if_should_change_url_for_reels": { "shareable_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456" },
  "shareable_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234567890123456",
  "playback_video": { "id": "1234567890123456", "audio_user_preferred_language": "en" },
  "video_owner": { "name": "Leonardo DiCaprio", "url": "https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/" },
  "is_passive_content": false,
  "fb_shorts_reshare_context": {},
  "remix_info": {},
  "video_owner_type": "FACEBOOK_USER",
  "soundtrack_info": { "type": "CUSTOM_AUDIO" },
  "track_title": "Leonardo DiCaprio · Original audio",
  "music_album_art_uri": "https://example-cdn.net/album_art.jpg",
  "is_original_audio_on_facebook": true,
  "play_count_reduced": "1.2M"
}

Example output (request error while fetching a Reel)

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/SomePage/",
  "inputUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/9999999999999999",
  "request_error": "RequestException"
}

Example output (profile-level error)

{
  "startUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/SomePage/",
  "error": "GraphQL doc_id could not be resolved",
  "type": "profile_error"
}

Notes:

• Some fields like parse_error and http_status may appear when a Reel page parses incompletely or returns a non-200 status.
• Nested objects (video, playback_video, video_owner, attachments, tracking, etc.) are passed through as returned by the page JSON and may vary by Reel.

FAQ

Do I need to log in to scrape Facebook Reels?

No. The actor is designed for public data and does not require login or cookies. It collects public Reels from profiles/pages you provide and respects your proxy settings for stability.

How many Reels can I scrape per profile?

You can set resultsLimit from 1 up to 10,000 Reels per profile. The actor discovers, paginates where possible, and streams each Reel into your Dataset.

Can I filter Reels by date?

Yes. Use onlyPostsNewerThan with an absolute date or a relative window like “7 days” or “2 weeks” to include only recent posts.

Does this work as a Facebook Reels downloader?

It outputs shareable_url, playback_video, and related media context that can feed a Facebook Reels downloader or Facebook Reels scraper bot workflow. Actual downloading is handled by your downstream tooling.

Can I download Facebook Reels with audio?

The playback_video object includes media and audio availability context that can be used in pipelines to download Facebook Reels with audio, subject to your own processing and compliance.

Can I bulk scrape Facebook Reels from multiple profiles?

Yes. Provide multiple items in startUrls and set resultsLimit to create a bulk “scrape Facebook Reels videos” workflow. The actor paces requests between profiles to improve reliability.

How does proxying work?

Set proxyConfiguration in the input. Residential proxies are recommended for Facebook to reduce blocks. The actor applies your proxy to all HTTP requests in the run.

Can I run this via API or integrate it in a pipeline?

Yes. As an Apify actor, it can be triggered via the Apify API and connected to schedulers and webhooks, making it a reliable Facebook Reels automation tool for production pipelines.

Final thoughts

Facebook Reels Scraper is built for structured, reliable extraction of public Reels data at scale. It combines profile-based discovery, resilient pagination, and streaming results to power analytics, monitoring, and research workflows. Whether you’re a marketer, developer, analyst, or researcher, you can run it from the Apify UI or API and export clean datasets for your Facebook Reels metadata scraper use cases. Start extracting smarter with the best Facebook Reels scraper for your automation stack.