First Alpha Release for Version 4.15

Add `possibly_pinned` to reels loop.

.github/workflows/documentation.yml

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ jobs:
           cache: 'pipenv'
       - name: "Install Dependencies"
         run: |
-          python -m pip install pipenv==2024.2.0
+          python -m pip install pipenv==2025.0.4
           pipenv --python `python --version | grep -Eo '3\.[0-9]+'` sync --dev
       - name: "Build Documentation"
         run: pipenv --python `python --version | grep -Eo '3\.[0-9]+'` run make -C docs html SPHINXOPTS="-W -n"

.github/workflows/lint.yml

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
           cache: 'pipenv'
       - name: Install Dependencies
         run: |
-          python -m pip install pipenv==2024.2.0
+          python -m pip install pipenv==2025.0.4
           pipenv --python `python --version | grep -Eo '3\.[0-9]+'` sync --dev
       - name: PyLint
         run: pipenv --python `python --version | grep -Eo '3\.[0-9]+'` run pylint instaloader

.github/workflows/packages.yml

@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ jobs:
         run: echo "VERSION=${GITHUB_REF/refs\/tags\/v/}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
         shell: bash
       - name: "Install Dependencies"
-        run: python -m pip install setuptools
+        run: python -m pip install -U setuptools wheel build
       - name: "Generate Python Package"
-        run: python setup.py sdist
+        run: python -m build
       - name: "Publish Distribution to PyPI"
-        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@master
+        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
         with:
           password: ${{ secrets.PYPI_PASSWORD }}
       - name: "Publish Distribution to AUR"

.github/workflows/windows_exe.yml

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
-          python-version: "3.12"
+          python-version: "3.13"
           cache: 'pipenv'
           architecture: x64
       - name: Get the tagged version

.pylintrc

@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ disable=bad-inline-option,
         too-many-instance-attributes,
         too-many-lines,
         too-many-locals,
+        too-many-positional-arguments,
         too-many-public-methods,
         too-many-statements,
         unnecessary-lambda-assignment,

deploy/arch/.SRCINFO.template

@@ -5,9 +5,13 @@ pkgbase = instaloader
 	url = https://instaloader.github.io/
 	arch = any
 	license = MIT
+	makedepends = python-build
+	makedepends = python-installer
 	makedepends = python-setuptools
-	depends = python>=3.8
-	depends = python-requests>=2.4
+	makedepends = python-wheel
+	depends = python
+	depends = python-requests
+	optdepends = python-browser-cookie3: Import session cookies from browser
 	options = !emptydirs
 	source = instaloader-{{version}}.tar.gz::https://codeload.github.com/instaloader/instaloader/tar.gz/v{{version}}
 	sha512sums = {{hash}}

deploy/arch/PKGBUILD.template

@@ -8,20 +8,30 @@ arch=('any')
 url="https://instaloader.github.io/"
 license=('MIT')
 groups=()
-depends=('python>=3.8' 'python-requests>=2.4')
-makedepends=('python-setuptools')
+depends=(
+  python
+  python-requests
+)
+makedepends=(
+  python-build
+  python-installer
+  python-setuptools
+  python-wheel
+)
+optdepends=(
+  'python-browser-cookie3: Import session cookies from browser'
+)
 options=('!emptydirs')
 source=($pkgname-$pkgver.tar.gz::https://codeload.github.com/instaloader/instaloader/tar.gz/v$pkgver)
 sha512sums=('{{hash}}')
 
 build() {
 	cd "$srcdir/$pkgname-$pkgver"
-	python setup.py clean --all
-	python setup.py build
+	python -m build --wheel --no-isolation
 }
 
 package() {
 	cd "$srcdir/$pkgname-$pkgver"
 	install -Dm644 LICENSE "$pkgdir"/usr/share/licenses/$pkgname/LICENSE
-	python setup.py install --root "$pkgdir/" --skip-build
+	python -m installer --destdir="$pkgdir" dist/*.whl
 }

deploy/windows/create_exe.py

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ with open('__main__.py', 'w+') as f:
     f.writelines(lines)
 
 # install dependencies and invoke PyInstaller
-commands = ["pip install pipenv==2024.2.0",
+commands = ["pip install pipenv==2025.0.4",
             f"pipenv --python {sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor} sync --dev",
             "pipenv run pyinstaller --log-level=DEBUG instaloader.spec"]
 

docs/basic-usage.rst

@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ Instaloader supports the following targets:
       to **download IGTV videos**.
 
 - ``"#hashtag"``
-   Posts with a certain **hashtag** (the quotes are usually necessary).
+   Posts with a certain **hashtag** (the quotes are usually necessary). Requires :ref:`login<login>`.
 
 - ``%location id``
    Posts tagged with a given location; the location ID is the numerical ID

docs/cli-options.rst

@@ -208,22 +208,24 @@ Instead of :option:`--login`, it is possible to use
 
 .. option:: --load-cookies BROWSER-NAME, -b BROWSER-NAME
 
-   Use Instagram cookie in your browser to login.
-   This feature requires the browser_cookie3 library.
-   Compatible with :option:`--cookiefile` if you want to load cookies from browser profiles.
-   Incompatible with :option:`--login` due to potential username mismatch between user input and browser login.
-   Supported browsers: Brave, Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, LibreWolf, Opera, Opera_GX, Safari and Vivaldi.
+   Load Instagram session cookies from a browser instead of using Instaloader's own login mechanism.
+   This method requires the `browser_cookie3 <https://github.com/borisbabic/browser_cookie3>`__ library.
+   By default, cookies are loaded from the browser's main profile, but you can specify a custom cookie file using :option:`--cookiefile`.
 
-   In subsequent runs, you can just use :option:`--login` to reuse the
-   same session, which is saved by Instaloader.
+   Since :option:`--load-cookies` and :option:`--login` are alternative ways to acquire a session, they cannot be used together when initially acquiring a session.
+
+   Supported browsers: Arc, Brave, Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Firefox, LibreWolf, Opera, Opera_GX, Safari, and Vivaldi.
+
+   Once logged in via browser cookies, Instaloader saves the session, allowing you to use :option:`--login` in subsequent runs.
 
    .. versionadded:: 4.11
 
 .. option:: --cookiefile COOKIE-FILE, -B COOKIE-FILE
 
-   Cookie file path of a browser profile to load cookies from.
+   Specifies a cookie file path for :option:`--load-cookies` to load cookies from a particular browser profile.
+   This option must be used together with :option:`--load-cookies` and does not work on its own.
 
-  .. versionadded:: 4.11
+   .. versionadded:: 4.11
 
 .. option:: --sessionfile SESSIONFILE, -f SESSIONFILE
 
@@ -310,7 +312,7 @@ How to Download
 .. option:: --user-agent USER_AGENT
 
    User Agent to use for HTTP requests. Per default, Instaloader pretends being
-   Chrome/127 on Linux.
+   Chrome/138 on Linux.
 
 .. option:: --max-connection-attempts N
 

instaloader/__init__.py

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 """Download pictures (or videos) along with their captions and other metadata from Instagram."""
 
 
-__version__ = '4.14'
+__version__ = '4.15a1'
 
 
 try:

instaloader/__main__.py

@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ def get_cookies_from_instagram(domain, browser, cookie_file='', cookie_name=''):
         print(f"Cookies loaded successfully from {browser}")
     else:
         raise LoginException(f"No cookies found for Instagram in {browser}, "
-                             f"Are you logged in succesfully in {browser}?")
+                             f"Are you logged in successfully in {browser}?")
 
     if cookie_name:
         return cookies.get(cookie_name, {})

instaloader/instaloader.py

@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ def _requires_login(func: Callable) -> Callable:
 
 
 def _retry_on_connection_error(func: Callable) -> Callable:
-    """Decorator to retry the function max_connection_attemps number of times.
+    """Decorator to retry the function max_connection_attempts number of times.
 
     Herewith-decorated functions need an ``_attempt`` keyword argument.
 
@@ -737,19 +737,20 @@ class Instaloader:
                         suffix: Optional[str] = str(edge_number)
                         if '{filename}' in self.filename_pattern:
                             suffix = None
-                        if self.download_pictures and (not sidecar_node.is_video or self.download_video_thumbnails):
+                        video_url = sidecar_node.video_url
+                        if self.download_pictures and (video_url is None or self.download_video_thumbnails):
                             # pylint:disable=cell-var-from-loop
                             sidecar_filename = self.__prepare_filename(filename_template,
                                                                        lambda: sidecar_node.display_url)
                             # Download sidecar picture or video thumbnail (--no-pictures implies --no-video-thumbnails)
                             downloaded &= self.download_pic(filename=sidecar_filename, url=sidecar_node.display_url,
                                                             mtime=post.date_local, filename_suffix=suffix)
-                        if sidecar_node.is_video and self.download_videos:
+                        if video_url is not None and self.download_videos:
                             # pylint:disable=cell-var-from-loop
                             sidecar_filename = self.__prepare_filename(filename_template,
-                                                                       lambda: sidecar_node.video_url)
+                                                                       lambda: video_url)
                             # Download sidecar video if desired
-                            downloaded &= self.download_pic(filename=sidecar_filename, url=sidecar_node.video_url,
+                            downloaded &= self.download_pic(filename=sidecar_filename, url=video_url,
                                                             mtime=post.date_local, filename_suffix=suffix)
                 else:
                     downloaded = False
@@ -1215,6 +1216,7 @@ class Instaloader:
            Use :meth:`Hashtag.get_posts_resumable`."""
         return Hashtag.from_name(self.context, hashtag).get_posts_resumable()
 
+    @_requires_login
     def download_hashtag(self, hashtag: Union[Hashtag, str],
                          max_count: Optional[int] = None,
                          post_filter: Optional[Callable[[Post], bool]] = None,
@@ -1302,6 +1304,7 @@ class Instaloader:
             post_filter,
             owner_profile=profile,
             takewhile=posts_takewhile,
+            possibly_pinned=3,
         )
         if latest_stamps is not None and reels.first_item is not None:
             latest_stamps.set_last_reels_timestamp(profile.username, reels.first_item.date_local)

instaloader/instaloadercontext.py

@@ -32,15 +32,15 @@ def copy_session(session: requests.Session, request_timeout: Optional[float] = N
 
 def default_user_agent() -> str:
     return ('Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 '
-            '(KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/127.0.0.0 Safari/537.36')
+            '(KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/138.0.0.0 Safari/537.36')
 
 
 def default_iphone_headers() -> Dict[str, Any]:
-    return {'User-Agent': 'Instagram 273.0.0.16.70 (iPad13,8; iOS 16_3; en_US; en-US; ' \
-                          'scale=2.00; 2048x2732; 452417278) AppleWebKit/420+',
+    return {'User-Agent': 'Instagram 361.0.0.35.82 (iPad13,8; iOS 18_0; en_US; en-US; ' \
+                          'scale=2.00; 2048x2732; 674117118) AppleWebKit/420+',
             'x-ads-opt-out': '1',
             'x-bloks-is-panorama-enabled': 'true',
-            'x-bloks-version-id': '01507c21540f73e2216b6f62a11a5b5e51aa85491b72475c080da35b1228ddd6',
+            'x-bloks-version-id': '16b7bd25c6c06886d57c4d455265669345a2d96625385b8ee30026ac2dc5ed97',
             'x-fb-client-ip': 'True',
             'x-fb-connection-type': 'wifi',
             'x-fb-http-engine': 'Liger',
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class InstaloaderContext:
 
         self._rate_controller = rate_controller(self) if rate_controller is not None else RateController(self)
 
-        # Can be set to True for testing, disables supression of InstaloaderContext._error_catcher
+        # Can be set to True for testing, disables suppression of InstaloaderContext._error_catcher
         self.raise_all_errors = False
 
         # HTTP status codes that should cause an AbortDownloadException

instaloader/structures.py

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class PostSidecarNode(NamedTuple):
     """Item of a Sidecar Post."""
     is_video: bool
     display_url: str
-    video_url: str
+    video_url: Optional[str]
 
 
 PostSidecarNode.is_video.__doc__ = "Whether this node is a video."
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ class Post:
     This class unifies access to the properties associated with a post. It implements == and is
     hashable.
 
-    :param context: :attr:`Instaloader.context` used for additional queries if neccessary..
+    :param context: :attr:`Instaloader.context` used for additional queries if necessary..
     :param node: Node structure, as returned by Instagram.
     :param owner_profile: The Profile of the owner, if already known at creation.
     """
@@ -512,14 +512,14 @@ class Post:
 
     @property
     def caption_hashtags(self) -> List[str]:
-        """List of all lowercased hashtags (without preceeding #) that occur in the Post's caption."""
+        """List of all lowercased hashtags (without preceding #) that occur in the Post's caption."""
         if not self.caption:
             return []
         return _hashtag_regex.findall(self.caption.lower())
 
     @property
     def caption_mentions(self) -> List[str]:
-        """List of all lowercased profiles that are mentioned in the Post's caption, without preceeding @."""
+        """List of all lowercased profiles that are mentioned in the Post's caption, without preceding @."""
         if not self.caption:
             return []
         return _mention_regex.findall(self.caption.lower())
@@ -1079,7 +1079,7 @@ class Profile:
     @property
     def biography_hashtags(self) -> List[str]:
         """
-        List of all lowercased hashtags (without preceeding #) that occur in the Profile's biography.
+        List of all lowercased hashtags (without preceding #) that occur in the Profile's biography.
 
         .. versionadded:: 4.10
         """
@@ -1090,7 +1090,7 @@ class Profile:
     @property
     def biography_mentions(self) -> List[str]:
         """
-        List of all lowercased profiles that are mentioned in the Profile's biography, without preceeding @.
+        List of all lowercased profiles that are mentioned in the Profile's biography, without preceding @.
 
         .. versionadded:: 4.10
         """
@@ -1534,7 +1534,7 @@ class StoryItem:
     @property
     def caption_hashtags(self) -> List[str]:
         """
-        List of all lowercased hashtags (without preceeding #) that occur in the StoryItem's caption.
+        List of all lowercased hashtags (without preceding #) that occur in the StoryItem's caption.
 
         .. versionadded:: 4.10
         """
@@ -1545,7 +1545,7 @@ class StoryItem:
     @property
     def caption_mentions(self) -> List[str]:
         """
-        List of all lowercased profiles that are mentioned in the StoryItem's caption, without preceeding @.
+        List of all lowercased profiles that are mentioned in the StoryItem's caption, without preceding @.
 
         .. versionadded:: 4.10
         """
@@ -1844,11 +1844,11 @@ class Hashtag:
     @classmethod
     def from_name(cls, context: InstaloaderContext, name: str):
         """
-        Create a Hashtag instance from a given hashtag name, without preceeding '#'. Raises an Exception if there is no
+        Create a Hashtag instance from a given hashtag name, without preceding '#'. Raises an Exception if there is no
         hashtag with the given name.
 
         :param context: :attr:`Instaloader.context`
-        :param name: Hashtag, without preceeding '#'
+        :param name: Hashtag, without preceding '#'
         :raises: :class:`QueryReturnedNotFoundException`
         """
         # pylint:disable=protected-access
@@ -1858,11 +1858,13 @@ class Hashtag:
 
     @property
     def name(self):
-        """Hashtag name lowercased, without preceeding '#'"""
+        """Hashtag name lowercased, without preceding '#'"""
         return self._node["name"].lower()
 
     def _query(self, params):
-        json_response = self._context.get_json("explore/tags/{0}/".format(self.name), params)
+        json_response = self._context.get_iphone_json(
+            "api/v1/tags/web_info/", {**params, "tag_name": self.name}
+        )
         return json_response["graphql"]["hashtag"] if "graphql" in json_response else json_response["data"]
 
     def _obtain_metadata(self):
@@ -2185,7 +2187,7 @@ def load_structure(context: InstaloaderContext, json_structure: dict) -> JsonExp
     """Loads a :class:`Post`, :class:`Profile`, :class:`StoryItem`, :class:`Hashtag` or :class:`FrozenNodeIterator` from
     a json structure.
 
-    :param context: :attr:`Instaloader.context` linked to the new object, used for additional queries if neccessary.
+    :param context: :attr:`Instaloader.context` linked to the new object, used for additional queries if necessary.
     :param json_structure: Instaloader JSON structure
 
     .. versionadded:: 4.8
@@ -2215,7 +2217,7 @@ def load_structure_from_file(context: InstaloaderContext, filename: str) -> Json
     """Loads a :class:`Post`, :class:`Profile`, :class:`StoryItem`, :class:`Hashtag` or :class:`FrozenNodeIterator` from
     a '.json' or '.json.xz' file that has been saved by :func:`save_structure_to_file`.
 
-    :param context: :attr:`Instaloader.context` linked to the new object, used for additional queries if neccessary.
+    :param context: :attr:`Instaloader.context` linked to the new object, used for additional queries if necessary.
     :param filename: Filename, ends in '.json' or '.json.xz'
     """
     compressed = filename.endswith('.xz')