How to connect Instagram account?

This article shows how to connect an Instagram account to the LightWidget website so that you can create a widget for your website.

If you want to link an Instagram account that belongs to your client, read this article – How to create a widget for a client?

Step 1 – login to LightWidget website

To connect your Instagram account you will need to log in to the LightWidget website. If you do not have a user account on LightWidget yet, create a new account first. If you already have an account, log in to it – log in to your account.

After logging in, you will be able to connect your Instagram account either from the Dashboard or on the Instagram accounts page.

Step 2 – select a connection method

There are two methods of connecting Instagram account:

1. Consumer connection – connect directly via Instagram
2. Business connection – connect via your Facebook Page

Each method has different requirements and offers different options. In short words – business connection offers more features but has more requirements than connecting with Instagram. Each method will allow you to generate a widget.

You can read more about the differences in this article: The difference between Business and Consumer method.

Step 3a – Consumer connection

This chapter shows how to connect Instagram account using Consumer connection. Chapter 3b (below) shows how to connect Instagram account using the Business method.

Click the Consumer connection button. It will redirect you to the Instagram website.

If Instagram asks you for login and password, log in as the user for whom you want to generate a widget.

When you log in (or are already logged in) you will see the screen below.

Instagram will ask you if you want to connect your Instagram account with our application. Check if the checkbox next to the Access your media field is checked. Without access to your photos and videos (media) posted on Instagram, we will not be able to generate the widget.

Click the Authorize button. You will be redirected to our website. The newly connected Instagram account should be visible in your dashboard. You can now create a widget with posts from your Instagram.

Small note: We only ask for the read permissions, we will never publish anything to your Instagram account without your explicit permission.

What to do if Instagram asks me for the A account and I want to connect the B account?

On the screenshot above Instagram asks about the “John Doe” account. If you would like to use a different Instagram account you will need to visit the Instagram page first and log out from the current session there. Unfortunately, the Instagram authorization window does not allow selecting users from the list yet. The authorization window allows you to connect the user who is currently logged in to the Instagram website.

We have an additional article showing how to switch between the accounts here – How do I switch between Instagram accounts?

I’m using single login for multiple Instagram accounts. How to connect my secondary account with LightWidget?

Instagram allows you to manage several different accounts from one Instagram account. If you want to connect an account other than the main account, you must create a password for the secondary account first.

As in the question above, the authorization window does not allow you to select a secondary account.

To connect such an account, open the Instagram application on your device. Change the account to the one you want to create the widget for. Go to Settings > Security > Create Password and create a new password for your secondary account.

If you only see the option to change your password (instead of creating a new password), this means that such a password is already set for your account.

Once you’ve created a password for your secondary account, you’ll be able to log into Instagram with it and connect it to our app.

Step 3b – Business connection

This chapter shows how to connect Instagram account using Business connection. Chapter 3a (above) shows how to connect Instagram account using the consumer method.

Click the Business connection button. You will be redirected to the Facebook page. Facebook will either ask you to log in to your account or to confirm whether you want to use this account to link your Instagram account.

Remember to continue using the Facebook user that has a role on the Facebook Page linked to the Instagram account you want to connect.

Click the button Continue as … You will be taken to the next page where Facebook will ask you which Instagram Business Accounts you want to give us access to. Make sure that at least the account for which you want to generate the widget is selected. Click the Next button.

On the next screen, Facebook will ask about the Facebook Pages that you would like to use with LightWidget. Make sure that you will tick the Facebook Page that is connected with the Instagram account you would like to use on LightWidget.

Selecting the page is mandatory and required in order to use Instagram Graph API to create a widget. This is read access only, we will not post anything to your Facebook Page.

Click the Next button.

In the end, Facebook will ask about the permissions you grant to our application. Make sure both options are checked. If at least one of them is set to no, we won’t be able to connect your Instagram account. Make sure that everything is set to Yes and click the Done button.

If you have selected access to only one account, it should appear in your dashboard. If you have selected several accounts on the Facebook website, our LightWidget website will ask you for the Instagram account you would like to connect. You can only connect one account at a time.

On the screenshot above @john.doe is selected and this account will be connected with LightWidget. Click Connect selected Instagram account button. You should see the connected Instagram account on the list of your accounts.

If you would like to connect another Instagram account using this method simply repeat the process and select the appropriate Instagram account on our website.

What to do if the Instagram account belongs to the client and I do not have access to it?

The methods described above require access/credentials to the Instagram account you want to connect to LightWidget. If the Instagram account belongs to a client, please use your Developer code and send it to your client.

Thanks to it, you will be able to create and manage widgets from various Instagram accounts without asking for access/credentials.