Instagram Profile About API
Returns Instagram's "About this account" details for a public account (country, month joined, published contact) plus its follower count and lifetime post count.
GET /v1/instagram/profile/aboutLast updated November 2026Maintained by the SocialCrawl team
When to use the Instagram Profile About API
Use it when you need an account's total post count, or to tell where a creator is based, for example to include or exclude a region.
From the API reference
Returns the data behind Instagram's "About this account" panel for a public account: the country the account is based in (author.ext.country, an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code such as KR, with the English name in author.ext.country_name), the month it joined (author.ext.account_created), the public contact address and phone the account publishes (author.ext.public_email, author.ext.public_phone), and the link in its bio (author.external_url, with the full list in author.ext.bio_links). Country is the account's own declared country, not the country you are calling from. The same call returns the profile itself: follower and following counts (author.followers), bio, avatar, verification, and the account's lifetime post count as author.posts_count. It gives the follower count and the declared country in one call, so there is no need to call /v1/instagram/profile as well. Coverage follows what Instagram publishes: an account that shows no transparency panel returns null for those fields. author.ext.former_usernames_count is how many former usernames the panel lists, 0 when it lists none, so a count above 0 tells you the handle was renamed at least once (the old names themselves are not published). Send include=verified_at to add author.ext.verified_at, the month Instagram verified the account as the panel shows it ("April 2024"), null when the account is not verified or the panel shows no date. Only one source serves include=verified_at, so when it is unavailable the call returns an error at no charge rather than a profile without the date; the same request without it still works.
Searching 69 platforms in parallel
What can you do with the Profile About API?
The Profile About endpoint gives you structured Instagram data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.
Example Request
# GET /v1/instagram/profile/about: 1 credit per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
# --max-time 15: this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
# --retry 3: retries timeouts, 429 and 5xx, honoring Retry-After.
# -o response.json keeps only the final attempt's body.
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
IDEMPOTENCY_KEY=$(od -An -N16 -tx1 /dev/urandom | tr -d ' \n')
curl -sS --max-time 15 --retry 3 -o response.json \
-H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
"https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/instagram/profile/about?handle=instagram" && cat response.json# GET /v1/instagram/profile/about: 1 credit per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
# Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
import os
import random
import time
import uuid
import requests
API_KEY = os.environ.get("SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")
TIMEOUT_S = 15 # this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
MAX_RETRIES = 3
URL = "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/instagram/profile/about"
def backoff(attempt):
# Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
return 2 ** attempt * (0.5 + random.random() / 2)
def socialcrawl(params):
# One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
idempotency_key = str(uuid.uuid4())
for attempt in range(MAX_RETRIES + 1):
try:
res = requests.get(
URL,
params=params,
headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY, "Idempotency-Key": idempotency_key},
timeout=TIMEOUT_S,
)
body = res.json()
except (requests.RequestException, ValueError):
# A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
if attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
raise
time.sleep(backoff(attempt))
continue
if body["success"]:
return body
error = body["error"]
# Branch on error["type"], never on the message text.
if error["type"] == "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND":
return None # refunded: nothing to read
retry_after = res.headers.get("Retry-After")
# SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
permanent = error["type"] == "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" and retry_after is None
if not error.get("retryable") or permanent or attempt == MAX_RETRIES:
raise RuntimeError(f"{error['type']}: {error['message']} (request_id {body['request_id']})")
# Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
time.sleep(float(retry_after) if retry_after else backoff(attempt))
params = {
"handle": "instagram",
}
body = socialcrawl(params)
if body is not None:
print(body["data"])// GET /v1/instagram/profile/about: 1 credit per call. Cache hits are free and failed calls are refunded.
// Check the price first for 0 credits: add dry_run=1 to the query. Nothing is fetched or charged.
const API_KEY = process.env.SOCIALCRAWL_API_KEY ?? "YOUR_API_KEY";
const TIMEOUT_MS = 15_000; // this endpoint's measured p99 latency x 1.5.
const MAX_RETRIES = 3;
type Page = { next_cursor: string | null; has_more: boolean };
type SocialCrawlResponse =
| { success: true; data: any; pagination?: Page; credits_used: number; request_id: string }
| { success: false; error: { type: string; message: string; retryable: boolean }; request_id: string };
const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
// Exponential backoff with jitter: about 1 s, 2 s, then 4 s.
const backoffMs = (attempt: number) => 2 ** attempt * 1000 * (0.5 + Math.random() / 2);
async function socialcrawl(url: URL) {
// One Idempotency-Key per request, reused on every retry, so a retried call is never charged twice.
const idempotencyKey = crypto.randomUUID();
for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt++) {
let res: Response;
let body: SocialCrawlResponse;
try {
res = await fetch(url, {
headers: {
"x-api-key": API_KEY,
"Idempotency-Key": idempotencyKey,
},
signal: AbortSignal.timeout(TIMEOUT_MS),
});
body = (await res.json()) as SocialCrawlResponse;
} catch (error) {
// A timeout, a dropped connection or a non-JSON gateway page: retry with the same key.
if (attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) throw error;
await sleep(backoffMs(attempt));
continue;
}
if (body.success) return body;
// Branch on error.type, never on the message text.
if (body.error.type === "RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND") return null; // refunded: nothing to read
const retryAfter = res.headers.get("Retry-After");
// SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE without Retry-After is a withdrawn endpoint: permanent.
const permanent = body.error.type === "SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE" && retryAfter === null;
if (!body.error.retryable || permanent || attempt >= MAX_RETRIES) {
throw new Error(`${body.error.type}: ${body.error.message} (request_id ${body.request_id})`);
}
// Retry-After (seconds) wins; otherwise back off.
await sleep(retryAfter ? Number(retryAfter) * 1000 : backoffMs(attempt));
}
}
const url = new URL("https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/instagram/profile/about");
url.searchParams.set("handle", "instagram");
const body = await socialcrawl(url);
if (body) console.log(body.data);Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| handle | Yes | Instagram username without the @ symbol |
| include | No | Send `verified_at` to add `author.ext.verified_at`, the month Instagram verified the account ("April 2024"). Same price. Any other value is a free 400. |
What does the Instagram Profile About API return?
Every response follows one unified schema. Here is a real, unmodified response body, so you can see the exact fields you get back before spending a credit.
Example response
{
"success": true,
"platform": "instagram",
"endpoint": "/v1/instagram/profile/about",
"data": {
"author": {
"id": "25025320",
"username": "instagram",
"display_name": "Instagram",
"avatar_url": "https://scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-19/550891366_18667771684001321_1383210656577177067_n.jpg?efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6InByb2ZpbGVfcGljLmRqYW5nby4xMDgwLmMyIn0&_nc_ht=scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=1&_nc_oc=Q6cZ2gH_r93BIBuaBIfRouf6XObOBfI8RefXxhSv4L1LATZG5ypXa0DLfHayuGyKE2atvDw&_nc_ohc=q2IW4mzP_wkQ7kNvwHu1yIH&_nc_gid=1beB4Q3XaICpi9-0PKJm8A&edm=APs17CUBAAAA&ccb=7-5&ig_cache_key=GGbv1SApFvlLPVJCAOtF0XrDJjITbmNDAQAB0j-ccb7-5&oh=00_AQM2uz2jL3Mjjj7ekjA-B7fbqKkTO2_vLJ7KVLO2iRYHZg&oe=6AC59627&_nc_sid=10d13b",
"bio": "Discover what's new on Instagram 🔎✨",
"verified": true,
"followers": 686587747,
"following": 305,
"posts_count": 8612,
"likes_count": null,
"url": "https://www.instagram.com/instagram/",
"private": false,
"ext": {
"account_created": "February 2012",
"country": "United States",
"public_email": null,
"public_phone": null,
"business_category": null,
"hd_avatar_url": "https://scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-19/550891366_18667771684001321_1383210656577177067_n.jpg?efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6InByb2ZpbGVfcGljLmRqYW5nby4xMDgwLmMyIn0&_nc_ht=scontent-iad6-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=1&_nc_oc=Q6cZ2gH_r93BIBuaBIfRouf6XObOBfI8RefXxhSv4L1LATZG5ypXa0DLfHayuGyKE2atvDw&_nc_ohc=q2IW4mzP_wkQ7kNvwHu1yIH&_nc_gid=1beB4Q3XaICpi9-0PKJm8A&edm=APs17CUBAAAA&ccb=7-5&ig_cache_key=GGbv1SApFvlLPVJCAOtF0XrDJjITbmNDAQAB0j-ccb7-5&oh=00_AQM2uz2jL3Mjjj7ekjA-B7fbqKkTO2_vLJ7KVLO2iRYHZg&oe=6AC59627&_nc_sid=10d13b"
}
},
"computed": {
"engagement_rate": null,
"language": "de",
"content_category": "other",
"estimated_reach": null
}
},
"credits_used": 1,
"request_id": "req_example000000",
"cached": false,
"credits_remaining": 9999,
"source": "captured",
"captured_at": "2026-10-02T15:37:17.812Z",
"redacted": true
}Live sample illustrating the unified response shape. Field values reflect the record you query.
How does the Instagram Profile About API work?
Send a GET request with your API key and get back clean, structured JSON in our unified schema. Supported computed fields are populated when the source provides the required inputs.
Method
GET
Response
JSON
How do you scrape social media data in seconds?
The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 69 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.
One schema, every platform
Query 69 platforms with identical response structures. Write your integration once.
Computed fields, not just scraped
When an endpoint supports these metrics and the source provides the required inputs, the normalized record includes engagement_rate, estimated_reach, content_category, and language. Ready to use.
See your data before you code
Visual Data Explorer. Paste any URL, get rich result cards, sortable tables, CSV export.
import requests
response = requests.get(
'https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/profile',
params={'handle': 'charlidamelio'},
headers={'x-api-key': 'sc_YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
data = response.json(){
"success": true,
"platform": "tiktok",
"data": {
"author": {
"username": "charlidamelio",
"followers": 152400000
},
"engagement": {
"likes": 12400000000,
"engagement_rate": 0.087
},
"metadata": {
"language": "en",
"content_category": "lifestyle"
}
}
}Have a question? We got answers
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