What You'll Learn
- • Setting up your development environment
- • Installing the required HTTP client
- • Authenticating with the ScrapeCreators API
- • Making requests to Instagram
- • Handling responses and errors
- • Best practices for production use
Tutorial · Instagram
📱 Kotlin Step-by-step
How to scrape Instagram trendings
with Kotlin.
Extract trending data from Instagram. Real code, real responses, real production patterns — paste it into your project and ship.
Overview
Learn how to scrape Instagram trendings using Kotlin. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the entire process, from setup to implementation.
What You'll Get
- • Access to trendings data
- • JSON formatted responses
- • Real-time data access
- • Scalable solution
- • Error handling patterns
- • Performance optimization tips
Prerequisites
1. API Key
First, you'll need a ScrapeCreators API key to authenticate your requests.
Sign up at app.scrapecreators.com to get your free API key with 100 requests.
2. Development Environment
Make sure you have the following installed:
- • Kotlin and its dependencies
- • A code editor (VS Code, Sublime, etc.)
- • Basic understanding of API requests
- • Command line interface access
Step 1: Install HTTP Client
OkHttp is an HTTP client for Kotlin/Java
gradle
implementation "com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp:4.9.3"Step 2: API Implementation
Now let's make a request to the Instagram API using Kotlin. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key.
Kotlin
import java.net.http.HttpClient
import java.net.http.HttpRequest
import java.net.http.HttpResponse
import java.net.URI
import java.net.URLEncoder
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
class Scraper {
companion object {
private const val API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
private const val BASE_URL = "https://api.scrapecreators.com"
private const val ENDPOINT_PATH = "/v1/instagram/reels/trending"
@JvmStatic
fun main(args: Array<String>) {
try {
val result = scrape()
println("Response: $result")
} catch (e: Exception) {
println("Error: ${e.message}")
}
}
fun scrape(): String {
val client = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
// Build query parameters
val params = mapOf(
)
val queryString = params.entries.joinToString("&") { (key, value) ->
"${key}=${URLEncoder.encode(value, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)}"
}
val url = "${BASE_URL}${ENDPOINT_PATH}?${queryString}"
val request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.uri(URI.create(url))
.header("x-api-key", API_KEY)
.header("Accept", "application/json")
.GET()
.build()
val response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString())
if (response.statusCode() == 200) {
return response.body()
} else {
throw RuntimeException("HTTP ${response.statusCode()}: ${response.body()}")
}
}
}
}Step 3: Testing Your Code
API Parameters
This endpoint accepts the following parameters:
Run Your Code
Execute your script to test the API connection. You should see a JSON response with Instagram trendings data.
✅ Success: You should receive a structured JSON response containing the requested data.
Expected Response
Here's an example of the JSON response you'll receive:
Sample Response
{
"success": true,
"credits_remaining": 99,
"credits_charged": 1,
"reels": [
{
"id": "4000819054877393649",
"pk": "4000819054877393649",
"shortcode": "DeFw7uwlMLx",
"url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeFw7uwlMLx/",
"caption": "Impatiently waiting for #UFC335...\n\nThe countdown is on to @CharlesDoBronxs vs @DiegoLopesMMA\n\n[ LIVE DEC 12 on @ParamountPlus ]",
"taken_at": "2026-10-04T23:00:03.000Z",
"media_type": 2,
"product_type": "clips",
"video_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/example.mp4",
"video_versions": [
{
"type": 101,
"url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/example.mp4"
}
],
"image_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/example.jpg",
"image_versions2": {
"additional_candidates": {
"first_frame": {
"url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/example.jpg"
}
},
"candidates": [
{
"url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/example.jpg",
"height": 1920,
"width": 1080
}
]
},
"original_width": 1080,
"original_height": 1920,
"has_audio": true,
"like_count": 423127,
"comment_count": 1623,
"play_count": 5112349,
"ig_play_count": null,
"clips_metadata": {
"music_info": null,
"original_sound_info": {
"audio_asset_id": "28770083305965221",
"original_audio_title": "Original audio",
"ig_artist": {
"username": "ufc",
"id": "22832340"
},
"is_explicit": false,
"should_mute_audio": false,
"consumption_info": {
"should_mute_audio_reason": "",
"is_trending_in_clips": false
},
"audio_filter_infos": null
}
},
"user": {
"id": "17841401450200356",
"pk": "22832340",
"username": "ufc",
"full_name": "UFC",
"profile_pic_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/example.jpg",
"is_verified": true,
"is_private": false
}
}
]
}Verify Response Structure
Check that your response includes the expected fields:
- ✓
success(boolean) - ✓
credits_remaining(number) - ✓
credits_charged(number) - ✓
reels(object)
Best Practices
1
Error Handling
Implement comprehensive error handling and retry logic for failed requests. Log errors properly for debugging.
2
Caching
Cache responses when possible to reduce API calls and improve performance. Consider data freshness requirements.
3
Security
Never expose your API key in client-side code. Use environment variables and secure key management practices.
Performance Tips
Batch Requests
When scraping multiple trendings, consider batching requests to maximize throughput while staying within rate limits.
Async Processing
Use asynchronous processing in Kotlin to handle multiple requests concurrently and improve overall performance.
Common Use Cases
Market Research
Analyze Instagram trendings to understand market trends, competitor analysis, and audience insights.
Content Analytics
Track performance metrics, engagement rates, and content trends across Instagram trendings.
Lead Generation
Identify potential customers and business opportunities throughInstagram data analysis.
Troubleshooting
Common Errors
401 Unauthorized
Check your API key is correct and properly formatted in the x-api-key header.
402 Payment Required
You ran out of credits and need to buy more.
404 Not Found
The resource might not exist or be private.
500 Server Error
Temporary server issue. Implement retry logic with exponential backoff.
Need Help?
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to scrape Instagram trendings?
ScrapeCreators offers 100 free API calls to get started. After that, pricing starts at $10 for 5k requests with volume discounts available.
Is it legal to scrape Instagram data?
Scraping publicly available data is fair game, and we only collect public data. So anything that you can see in an incognito browser is what we collect.
How fast can I scrape Instagram trendings?
There is no rate limit! So you can scrape as fast as you want!
What data format does the API return?
All API responses are returned in JSON format, making it easy to integrate with any programming language or application.
Can I use this with other Kotlin frameworks?
Yes! This tutorial focuses on core Kotlin HTTP concepts that work with any framework. The API calls remain the same regardless of your specific Kotlin setup.
How do I handle large datasets?
For large datasets, implement pagination, use streaming responses where available, and consider storing data in a database for efficient querying.
Related Tutorials
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