Instagram extraction fails due to missing impersonate target (curl_cffi) on Android

[birkul]

Checklist

• I'm reporting a bug unrelated to a specific site.
• I've verified that I'm running the latest version of yt-dlp.
• I've verified that I'm running the latest stable version of Seal or any later preview versions.
• I've read the Contributing guidelines and Code Of Conduct.
• I've checked that the site i'm trying to download from is in the Supported Sites list from yt-dlp
• I understand that the issue will be (ignored/closed) if I intentionally remove or skip any mandatory field.

Describe the bug

Hi,
Thank you for this great App, but downloading now an Instagram Reel fails because the extractor requires browser impersonation (curl_cffi), which is not available u think in the Android build of yt-dlp/Seal.

To Reproduce

1. Open Seal (yt-dlp nightly channel)
2. Paste an Instagram Reel URL shared via the "X shared this reel with you" link (igsh parameter)
3. Tap download

Expected behavior:
The video should download, or fall back to a non-impersonation method, like it used to before Instagram started requiring impersonation.

On yt-dlp stable (2026.06.09):
#WARNING: [Instagram] DaI91choaNb: No csrf token set by Instagram API
ERROR: [Instagram] DaI91choaNb: Instagram sent an empty media response. Check if this post is accessible in your browser without being logged-in...

On yt-dlp nightly (2026.06.28.234618):
#ERROR: [Instagram] DaI91choaNb: The extractor is attempting impersonation, but no impersonate target is available. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#impersonation for information on installing the required dependencies

App version: 1.13.1 (11312)
Device information: Android 16 (API 36)
Supported ABIs: [arm64-v8a]
URL: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaI91choaNb/?igsh=cWFhN3R1enA3bjg0
(Note: the video plays fine in a regular browser, logged-out, after dismissing the "Continue with web" prompt — so this isn't a login-gated post.)

Error reports

On yt-dlp stable (2026.06.09):
App version: 1.13.1 (11312)
Device information: Android 16 (API 36)
Supported ABIs: [arm64-v8a]
Yt-dlp version: 2026.06.09

URL: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaI91choaNb/?igsh=cWFhN3R1enA3bjg0
WARNING: [Instagram] DaI91choaNb: No csrf token set by Instagram API
ERROR: [Instagram] DaI91choaNb: Instagram sent an empty media response. Check if this post is accessible in your browser without being logged-in. If it is not, then use --cookies-from-browser or --cookies for the authentication. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/FAQ#how-do-i-pass-cookies-to-yt-dlp for how to manually pass cookies. Otherwise, if the post is accessible in browser without being logged-in, please report this issue on https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues?q= , filling out the appropriate issue template. Confirm you are on the latest version using yt-dlp -U

After switching to yt-dlp nightly (2026.06.28.234618), the error changed to:

App version: 1.13.1 (11312)
Device information: Android 16 (API 36)
Supported ABIs: [arm64-v8a]
Yt-dlp version: 2026.06.28.234618

URL: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaI91choaNb/?igsh=cWFhN3R1enA3bjg0
ERROR: [Instagram] DaI91choaNb: The extractor is attempting impersonation, but no impersonate target is available. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#impersonation for information on installing the required dependencies

Screenshots & Screen Records

No response

Additional context

curl_cffi now publishes an official Android wheel (curl_cffi-0.15.0-cp313-abi3-android_24_arm64_v8a.whl on PyPI, since ~April 2026). Could Seal's build pipeline (Chaquopy?) bundle this so impersonation works on Android, the same way it does on desktop yt-dlp builds?

This seems related to the same root cause as #2487 and #2372 (TikTok impersonation missing on Android), but now also affects Instagram

[github-actions]

This issue has been closed and labeled as duplicate. Please see issue #1399 for more details. If you believe this is not the case, you can reopen this issue.

[badp]

I disagree this is a duplicate — #733 is about "Cannot fetch video info" errors; #889 is about video formats; #2487 and #2372 might have been filed first, but this issue is the more detailed one

[othmanelhoufi]

Same issue faced recently.
We need a fix. The Seal Android app's bundled build of yt-dlp does not include curl_cffi, so it can't perform the impersonation step Instagram now demands, resulting in the "Could not fetch video info" error you're seeing.

App version: 1.13.1 (11310)
Device information: Android 17 (API 37)
Supported ABIs: [arm64-v8a]
Yt-dlp version: 2026.06.29.234344

URL: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaLS-5dCz-p/
ERROR: [Instagram] DaLS-5dCz-p: The extractor is attempting impersonation, but no impersonate target is available. See https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp#impersonation for information on installing the required dependencies