Looking up and searching

The Look up page lets you check what you are about to download: preview a profile or hashtag, see whether a profile has a current story, and search Instagram for profiles, hashtags and places.

Contents

• Looking up a profile
• Looking up a hashtag
• The story badge
• From a preview to a download
• Searching Instagram
• Opening the page from the target list
• Look-up problems

Looking up a profile

Type a username or paste a profile's Instagram link into the box, and click Look up or press Enter (Ctrl+F goes to the box from any page). The preview shows:

• the profile picture, the name, @username and the profile's numeric ID;
• the number of posts, followers and accounts it follows;
• the biography and website;
• badges:

Badge	Meaning
Verified	The account is verified by Instagram
Private	The account is private; you can only download it when signed in with an account that follows it
Private · you follow	The account is private, and the account you are signed in with follows it
A business category, or Business	A business account
Story · 3 items / Has story · sign in to download	The profile has a current story; see below
Follows you	The profile follows the account you are signed in with

Looking up works anonymously too, but some profiles (for example age-restricted ones) are only found, and some details only shown, when you are signed in. The look-up uses your saved session or browser cookies, as set on the Account page, and never asks for a password.

Looking up a hashtag

Enter #hashtag (or a hashtag's Instagram link) and click Look up. The preview shows the hashtag's picture, description and number of posts.

The story badge

Badge	Meaning
Story · 3 items	You are signed in, and the profile has a story right now with that many items. It is checked the same way a download fetches stories, so turning on Stories and downloading the profile gets these items.
Has story · sign in to download	You are not signed in, and the profile has a public story. Downloading stories requires that you are signed in.
(no badge)	The profile has no current story, or it could not be checked (for example because Instagram limits requests at the moment)

Stories disappear after 24 hours, so a badge you saw yesterday may be gone today. When you are signed in, checking the story needs one extra request to Instagram.

From a preview to a download

Button	Does
Add to download list	Adds the profile or hashtag to the targets on the Download page
Add accounts they follow	Adds a followees target for the profile: every account it follows (requires sign-in)
Open on Instagram	Opens the profile or hashtag in your web browser

A confirmation, such as "Added natgeo to the download list.", appears under the box.

Searching Instagram

Type one or more words and click Search, or press Enter when you typed several words. The results are listed under Search results:

Results	Shown as	Up to
Profiles	@username, the full name, verified, private	25
Hashtags	#hashtag and its number of posts	15
Locations	the place's name and its ID, %213385402	15

For each result, Add adds it to the download list (a location as a location target), and Details shows the preview of a profile or hashtag.

Searching requires that you are signed in, because Instagram only answers searches from signed-in accounts. Without a session, Search shows Search failed: Searching Instagram requires login. - sign in on the Account page. Locations are searched with a second request; if only that one fails, the profiles and hashtags are still shown.

Opening the page from the target list

On the Download page, double-click a profile in the target list, or right-click it and choose Look up profile, to open its preview here.

Look-up problems

Message	Meaning
Profile not found: …	The username is wrong, the profile was renamed or deleted, it blocked you, or it is restricted and you are not signed in
Instagram requires login for this. Sign in on the Account page.	Instagram did not answer the anonymous request
Single posts cannot be previewed here - add them to the download list directly.	You entered a post's link or shortcode; only profiles and hashtags can be previewed
Search failed: …	See Searching Instagram; for other errors, see Troubleshooting and FAQ

Search needs InstaloaderSharp 1.0.4 or later: older versions use Instagram's retired website search and fail with 404 Not Found. Finding restricted profiles needs InstaloaderSharp 1.0.3 or later. See Compatibility with InstaloaderSharp.