Signing in

Public profiles and single public posts can be downloaded without an account. Everything else needs you to be signed in to Instagram. This page explains the Account page.

Contents

• What needs sign-in
• The Account page
• Downloading anonymously
• Signing in with your Instagram account
• Two-factor authentication
• Using your browser's login
• Checking the session and signing out
• Saved sessions
• Several accounts
• Keeping your account safe
• Sign-in problems

What needs sign-in

Needs sign-in	Works without
Private profiles you follow	Public profiles: their posts and profile pictures
Stories and highlights	Single public posts
Hashtags and locations	Geotags of posts
Your feed, your saved posts, followed stories	Metadata files of public posts
Followees of a profile
Comments
Searching Instagram (Look up page)

When you are signed in, pictures and videos are also downloaded in higher quality (through Instagram's app interface; see Use iPhone API in the Settings reference), and Instagram limits you less than anonymous visitors.

Options and targets that need sign-in are marked Requires login, and the program warns before starting if you use them anonymously.

Downloading in large amounts can get an account temporarily restricted by Instagram. Consider using a secondary account.

The Account page

At the top, a card shows the current state: your profile picture (after the session has been checked) or initial, @username, and whether a saved session exists and has been verified. It has the buttons Check session and Sign out.

Under Sign-in method, choose how the program accesses Instagram:

Method	When to use it	Command-line equivalent
Anonymous	Public profiles and posts only	(no option)
Instagram login	You sign in with your username and password, once	--login
Browser cookies	Signing in with a password does not work, or you prefer to sign in in your browser	--load-cookies

Only the fields of the chosen method are shown. The account chip at the bottom of the sidebar always shows the current method (see The window).

Downloading anonymously

With Anonymous, no account is used. Instagram limits anonymous access heavily: if you see errors such as 401, 403 or 429, or "Login required", sign in.

Signing in with your Instagram account

1. Choose Instagram login.
2. Enter your Username: your Instagram username, not your e-mail address or phone number.
3. Click Sign in.
4. Enter your password when asked (and a two-factor code, if your account uses one).

When the sign-in succeeds, a message shows where the session was saved, and the account chip shows a green dot. From then on, downloads reuse the session without asking for anything, until it expires.

Field	Meaning
Username	Your Instagram username
Password	Optional. You can type it here instead of in the dialog. It is only needed when there is no valid saved session, is kept in memory only, and is never written to disk
Session file	Optional. Where the session is stored. Leave it empty for the default, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Instaloader\session-USERNAME, which InstaloaderSharp and Instaloader use as well (--sessionfile)
Sign in	Signs in now and saves the session

You do not have to click Sign in: if there is no valid session when a download starts, you are asked for the password then. If a password or code is not accepted, you are asked again; Cancel stops the download with Login failed: Login cancelled.

Two-factor authentication

If your account uses two-factor authentication, a dialog asks for the verification code from your authenticator app or text message after the password. Enter it and click Verify.

Instagram's two-factor sign-in for programs is unreliable, which the output also warns about. If it does not work, use your browser's login instead.

Using your browser's login

1. Sign in to instagram.com in a supported browser. Firefox works best.
2. On the Account page, choose Browser cookies and select the Browser: Brave, Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, LibreWolf, Opera, Opera GX, Safari or Vivaldi.
3. Click Import cookies.

The program reads the browser's Instagram cookies, checks which account they belong to, and saves them as a session. It then offers to switch to "Instagram login" with that saved session. This is recommended: downloads then no longer read the browser, which can fail while the browser is open. If you choose Keep browser cookies instead, the cookies are imported again every time a download starts.

Field	Meaning
Browser	The browser to read (--load-cookies)
Cookie file	Optional. The cookie database of a specific browser profile, for example a Firefox cookies.sqlite file (--cookiefile). Leave empty for the browser's default profile
Import cookies	Reads, checks and saves the session now

• Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi) may need to be closed while their cookies are read.
• Recent Chrome versions encrypt cookies in a way that other programs cannot decrypt. Use Firefox or LibreWolf if Chrome does not work.
• The imported session belongs to the browser: signing out in the browser ends it.

See Importing the login from your web browser in the InstaloaderSharp manual for the details of each browser.

Checking the session and signing out

• Check session asks Instagram whether the saved session (or the browser's cookies) is still valid. If it is, you see Signed in as @username and your profile picture appears on the page. If not, sign in again.
• Sign out deletes the saved session file (after asking) and switches to Anonymous. You will need your password, and possibly a two-factor code, to sign in again.

Sessions end when you change your password, sign out of all devices, or Instagram ends them. A download with an expired session asks for the password again.

Saved sessions

The Saved sessions list shows every session file in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Instaloader, newest first, including sessions created with InstaloaderSharp or Instaloader on the command line.

Button	Does
Use	Switches to Instagram login with that account and session
Delete	Deletes the session file (after asking)
Refresh	Reloads the list
Open folder	Opens the session folder in Explorer

Sessions saved by the GUI work with InstaloaderSharp.exe --login YOUR-USERNAME and with Instaloader, and the other way round.

Several accounts

Every account has its own session file. To switch accounts, click Use on its saved session, or change the Username and sign in. Downloads always use the account shown on the Account page.

Keeping your account safe

• The program never saves your password. Only the session is saved, as InstaloaderSharp and Instaloader do.
• A session file still gives access to your account. Keep %LOCALAPPDATA%\Instaloader private, and never post session files, cookies or two-factor codes, for example in bug reports.
• Use a secondary account for large downloads, and avoid using the account heavily in the app or browser while downloading.

See Keeping your account safe in the InstaloaderSharp manual.

Sign-in problems

Problem	Solution
The password is not accepted, although it is correct	Make sure you entered your username, not your e-mail address. If Instagram refuses anyway, use your browser's login.
Checkpoint required. Point your browser to …	Instagram wants to confirm that it is you. Open the link in a browser where you are signed in to the same account, confirm, and try again, or use your browser's login.
Importing browser cookies fails, or finds no cookies	Close the browser and try again, use Firefox, and check that you are signed in to instagram.com in that browser. For a non-default browser profile, choose its Cookie file.
It imports the wrong account	The browser's default profile is signed in to another account. Sign in with the right account there, or choose the right Cookie file.
The session stopped working	Sign in again, or import fresh cookies.
Two-factor authentication does not work	Use your browser's login.

See also Troubleshooting and FAQ and Login problems in the InstaloaderSharp manual.