Isaac Whatever

My instagram account must have gotten hacked. I was following 7,500 people. Just opening up the app would cause my phone to get hot and kill the battery.

Unfollowing everyone individually would never work. The app would stop responding after the first few unfollows.

But they're a new, forward-thinking company. They have an API.

Programming to the rescue!

I found this:
https://github.com/Instagram/python-instagram

I got a little script up and running. I would fetch an access token manually and then plug it into the script. I read that the API had a limit of 50 unfollows per hour. I was careful to put in appropriate sleeps.

I fired it up, and it worked:
> ./bin/python unfollowr2.py 4d1918a69bbf400c81d0a06f8a948be8
Unfollowing User: slinkii_athletic
Unfollowing User: broxiesevents
Unfollowing User: beingprincess
Unfollowing User: rftm
Unfollowing User: alhwaizi
Unfollowing User: markthomps0n
Unfollowing User: arifbader
Unfollowing User: mira_sezar
Unfollowing User: maksimtokaev
Unfollowing User: michaelkors2014
Unfollowing User: genesismusik
Unfollowing User: projectcreator
Unfollowing User: domanitime
Unfollowing User: georgie_greig
Unfollowing User: herbalifejackie
Unfollowing User: benzkanyaphat
Unfollowing User: label31
Unfollowing User: kangcelvin_wae
Unfollowing User: erniesingleton
Unfollowing User: lovecreamskincare
Unfollowing User: mary_kondra
Unfollowing User: katya__lee
Unfollowing User: bpeacemusic
Unfollowing User: bta3_klooo
Unfollowing User: 3iooy
Unfollowing User: yourwardrobe_indo
Unfollowing User: estabrq1
Unfollowing User: ayo_dynasty

And then, sadly, it quit working. There's also a limit on each access token.

Ugh. Forget it. I deleted my instagram account and created another one with the same username but with a 2 on the end.

Bleh.