How to post pictures to instagram using API - php

Instagram are now banning accounts and removing the images based on this method. Please use with caution

It seems that everyone who has answered this question with something along the lines of it can't be done is somewhat correct. Officially, you cannot post a photo to Instagram with their API. However, if you reverse engineer the API, you can.

function SendRequest($url, $post, $post_data, $user_agent, $cookies) {
    $ch = curl_init();
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'https://i.instagram.com/api/v1/'.$url);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $user_agent);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);

    if($post) {
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post_data);
    }

    if($cookies) {
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, 'cookies.txt');            
    } else {
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, 'cookies.txt');
    }

    $response = curl_exec($ch);
    $http = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
    curl_close($ch);

   return array($http, $response);
}

function GenerateGuid() {
     return sprintf('%04x%04x-%04x-%04x-%04x-%04x%04x%04x', 
            mt_rand(0, 65535), 
            mt_rand(0, 65535), 
            mt_rand(0, 65535), 
            mt_rand(16384, 20479), 
            mt_rand(32768, 49151), 
            mt_rand(0, 65535), 
            mt_rand(0, 65535), 
            mt_rand(0, 65535));
}

function GenerateUserAgent() {  
     $resolutions = array('720x1280', '320x480', '480x800', '1024x768', '1280x720', '768x1024', '480x320');
     $versions = array('GT-N7000', 'SM-N9000', 'GT-I9220', 'GT-I9100');
     $dpis = array('120', '160', '320', '240');

     $ver = $versions[array_rand($versions)];
     $dpi = $dpis[array_rand($dpis)];
     $res = $resolutions[array_rand($resolutions)];

     return 'Instagram 4.'.mt_rand(1,2).'.'.mt_rand(0,2).' Android ('.mt_rand(10,11).'/'.mt_rand(1,3).'.'.mt_rand(3,5).'.'.mt_rand(0,5).'; '.$dpi.'; '.$res.'; samsung; '.$ver.'; '.$ver.'; smdkc210; en_US)';
 }

function GenerateSignature($data) {
     return hash_hmac('sha256', $data, 'b4a23f5e39b5929e0666ac5de94c89d1618a2916');
}

function GetPostData($filename) {
    if(!$filename) {
        echo "The image doesn't exist ".$filename;
    } else {
        $post_data = array('device_timestamp' => time(), 
                        'photo' => '@'.$filename);
        return $post_data;
    }
}


// Set the username and password of the account that you wish to post a photo to
$username = 'ig_username';
$password = 'ig_password';

// Set the path to the file that you wish to post.
// This must be jpeg format and it must be a perfect square
$filename = 'pictures/test.jpg';

// Set the caption for the photo
$caption = "Test caption";

// Define the user agent
$agent = GenerateUserAgent();

// Define the GuID
$guid = GenerateGuid();

// Set the devide ID
$device_id = "android-".$guid;

/* LOG IN */
// You must be logged in to the account that you wish to post a photo too
// Set all of the parameters in the string, and then sign it with their API key using SHA-256
$data ='{"device_id":"'.$device_id.'","guid":"'.$guid.'","username":"'.$username.'","password":"'.$password.'","Content-Type":"application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8"}';
$sig = GenerateSignature($data);
$data = 'signed_body='.$sig.'.'.urlencode($data).'&ig_sig_key_version=4';
$login = SendRequest('accounts/login/', true, $data, $agent, false);

if(strpos($login[1], "Sorry, an error occurred while processing this request.")) {
    echo "Request failed, there's a chance that this proxy/ip is blocked";
} else {            
    if(empty($login[1])) {
        echo "Empty response received from the server while trying to login";
    } else {            
        // Decode the array that is returned
        $obj = @json_decode($login[1], true);

        if(empty($obj)) {
            echo "Could not decode the response: ".$body;
        } else {
            // Post the picture
            $data = GetPostData($filename);
            $post = SendRequest('media/upload/', true, $data, $agent, true);    

            if(empty($post[1])) {
                 echo "Empty response received from the server while trying to post the image";
            } else {
                // Decode the response 
                $obj = @json_decode($post[1], true);

                if(empty($obj)) {
                    echo "Could not decode the response";
                } else {
                    $status = $obj['status'];

                    if($status == 'ok') {
                        // Remove and line breaks from the caption
                        $caption = preg_replace("/\r|\n/", "", $caption);

                        $media_id = $obj['media_id'];
                        $device_id = "android-".$guid;
                        $data = '{"device_id":"'.$device_id.'","guid":"'.$guid.'","media_id":"'.$media_id.'","caption":"'.trim($caption).'","device_timestamp":"'.time().'","source_type":"5","filter_type":"0","extra":"{}","Content-Type":"application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8"}';   
                        $sig = GenerateSignature($data);
                        $new_data = 'signed_body='.$sig.'.'.urlencode($data).'&ig_sig_key_version=4';

                       // Now, configure the photo
                       $conf = SendRequest('media/configure/', true, $new_data, $agent, true);

                       if(empty($conf[1])) {
                           echo "Empty response received from the server while trying to configure the image";
                       } else {
                           if(strpos($conf[1], "login_required")) {
                                echo "You are not logged in. There's a chance that the account is banned";
                            } else {
                                $obj = @json_decode($conf[1], true);
                                $status = $obj['status'];

                                if($status != 'fail') {
                                    echo "Success";
                                } else {
                                    echo 'Fail';
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    } else {
                        echo "Status isn't okay";
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Just copy and paste the code above in your text editor, change the few variables accordingly and VOILA!.