Changes to Meta developer tools are affecting third-party consumer apps that previously integrated with Instagram. Among users affected by the change are Match-owned dating apps Tinder and Hinge. The app allowed users to link their Instagram profile to their account to have their posts displayed to potential matches.
Day One, a journaling app purchased by WordPress.com owner Automattic in 2021, is also losing key pieces of functionality due to the change. The company announced on Friday that users’ Instagram photos and posts will no longer be able to be imported into Journal due to changes that affect developers’ ability to access Instagram data programmatically.
Meta first announced earlier this fall that it would end access to the Instagram Basic Display API on December 4, 2024. This allowed third-party consumer apps to connect with the user’s Instagram account and access content such as the user’s profile. Images, videos, albums.
Developers have been asked to switch to the Instagram API instead to avoid service outages, but according to Day One, these new APIs only work with Instagram business accounts, not personal accounts. Additionally, Day One doesn’t offer the functionality you previously needed to import Instagram content into your journal.
As a result, Day One users will no longer be able to automatically import content from Instagram going forward, but will still be able to access existing journal entries containing Instagram photos.
This feature was previously a selling point for the premium version of Day One, which costs $34.99 per year.
“We know this news is disappointing,” the company said in a blog post. “From day one, we were committed to making journaling as seamless and meaningful as possible, and Instagram integration was a helpful way to bring memories into the journal. Instagram integration has been a popular feature that makes it easy to record memories in a diary. “We know a lot of people rely on this product, and it’s been a favorite of our team.”
Another service that used the deprecated API included Discord, which stopped connecting to Instagram earlier due to lack of API support. Other affected apps include apps that import Instagram posts as website embeds, such as Spotlight and SnapWidget. (The latter recommends users switch to a business account instead.)
