Setup guide
Connect Instagram & Facebook
One app covers Instagram, Facebook and Threads. The fiddly part is not the app — it is that Instagram must be a Business or Creator account linked to a Facebook Page.
Check these first
Each of these blocks everything after it, and none of them is checked until the very last step — so it is worth thirty seconds now.
- Your Instagram account must be Business or Creator, not Personal. Instagram app → Settings → Account type. No API can read a Personal account, ever.
- That Instagram account must be linked to a Facebook Page. Instagram → Settings → Sharing to other apps → Facebook.
- You need to be an admin of that Facebook Page.
Steps
Create the app
Go to developers.facebook.com/apps → Create App. Choose "Business" as the type. Name it anything — your customers never see it.
Add the products
In the left sidebar: Add Product → Facebook Login → Set Up. Then add "Instagram Graph API". Add "Threads API" too if you want Threads.
Set the redirect URI
Facebook Login → Settings → Valid OAuth Redirect URIs. Paste the URI SIGNAL shows you, exactly as given — including https and any trailing slash. This is the single most common thing people get wrong.
Add yourself as a tester
App Roles → Roles. You are already an admin, which is enough for your own accounts. To let a colleague connect theirs, add them as a Tester here — and they must accept the invite at facebook.com/settings?tab=applications before it works.
Copy the credentials
Settings → Basic. Copy the App ID and click Show next to App Secret. Paste both into SIGNAL. Leave the app in Development mode — you do not need to publish it, and you do not need App Review.
Developer console: developers.facebook.com/apps
Permissions to request
Read-only. None of these let anything post on your behalf — if a console offers you publishing permissions, you can leave them off.
- instagram_basic
- instagram_manage_insights
- pages_show_list
- pages_read_engagement
If something goes wrong
These are the real failures, with the errors the platform actually shows. Most of them point somewhere other than the actual cause.
- The consent screen lists no Instagram accounts to pick.
- The Instagram account is still Personal, or is not linked to a Facebook Page. Both are required and neither is checked until this moment.
- "URL blocked" or "redirect_uri is not allowed".
- The redirect URI in the console does not match byte for byte. Check for a missing https, a trailing slash, or a copied space.
- A colleague sees "app not active" or is simply refused.
- They are not a Tester on the app, or they were added but never accepted the invitation. The invite must be accepted.
- Everything connects, but follower counts are zero.
- Instagram Insights need 100 followers before it returns audience data. The account is connected correctly; the platform is withholding the numbers.
Console layouts change. These steps were checked in July 2026 — if a screen does not match, the developer console’s own documentation is the authority.