Instagram plugin for Cordova

By Vlad Stirbu.

Adds ability to share the content of a canvas element or a dataUrl encoded image using the Instagram application for iOS and Android.

Installing the plugin to your project

If you use cordova-cli newer than 5.0:

cordova plugin add cordova-instagram-plugin

or, for older versions:

cordova plugin add https://github.com/vstirbu/InstagramPlugin

Instagram plugin JavaScript API

Detect if the Instagram application is installed on the device. The function isInstalled accepts a callback function as parameter:

Instagram.isInstalled(function (err, installed) {
    if (installed) {
        console.log("Instagram is", installed); // installed app version on Android
    } else {
        console.log("Instagram is not installed");
    }
});

Share the content of a canvas element or a base64 dataURL png image. The function share accepts a string, corresponding to the canvas element id or the dataURL, an optional caption, and a callback function as parameters:

API CHANGE NOTE: Instagram app stopped accepting pre-filled captions on both iOS and Android. As a work-around, the caption is copied to the clipboard. You have to inform your users to paste the caption.

Instagram.share(canvasIdOrDataUrl, caption, function (err) {
    if (err) {
        console.log("not shared");
    } else {
        console.log("shared");
    }
});

or:

Instagram.share(canvasIdOrDataUrl, function (err) {
    if (err) {
        console.log("not shared");
    } else {
        console.log("shared");
    }
});

Share library asset image or video. The function shareAsset (iOS only) accepts a string with asset local identifier, and a callback function as parameters:

var assetLocalIdentifier = "24320B60-1F52-46AC-BE4C-1202F02B9D00/L0/001";
Instagram.shareAsset(function(result) {
            console.log('Instagram.shareAsset success: ' + result);
        }, function(e) {
            console.log('Instagram.shareAsset error: ' + e);
        }, assetLocalIdentifier);

You can get a LocalIdentifier by using Photos Framework Fetching Assets API

A very basic application that uses the plugin can be found here.

Additionally for IOS only, you can utilize a fourth parameter on the base64/canvas method share, to correspond with a mode:

console.log(Instagram.SHARE_MODES);
> {
    DEFAULT: 0, // original plugin logistics, where it checks for IOS Version 13+ to switch from IG to IGO mode. 
    IGO: 1, // legacy UTI for instagram DI  (.exclusivegram)
    IG: 2,  // new UTI for instagram DI  (.photo)
    LIBRARY: 3 // save base64 or canvas to disk jpg, copy it to the Library, so that it can then be shared via App Intent
}

Using above as definition, you can change your code as such (note the usage of a blank caption, to specify 4 total arguments, not 3):

var caption = ''; // copied to clipboard by Cordova js. Instagram doesn't support feeding it anymore. 
Instagram.share(canvasIdOrDataUrl, caption, function (err) {
    if (err) {
        console.log("not shared");
    } else {
        console.log("shared");
    }
}, Instagram.SHARE_MODES.LIBRARY);

AngularJS/Ionic

The plugin is included in ngCordova and ionic-native.

NOTE: If you are using an image from the server,then you should download the image and fetch the content using readAsDataURL. Example:

• Add plugin cordova-plugin-file-transfer

var url = encodeURI('https://static.pexels.com/photos/33109/fall-autumn-red-season.jpg');
var filename = 'image.jpg';
var targetPath = cordova.file.externalRootDirectory + filename;
$cordovaFileTransfer.download(url, targetPath, {}, true).then(function(result) {
        var mywallpaper = result.toURL();
        window.resolveLocalFileSystemURL(mywallpaper, function(fileEntry) {
            fileEntry.file(function(file) {
                var reader = new FileReader(),
                    data = null;
                reader.onloadend = function(event) {
                    data = reader.result;
                    $cordovaInstagram.share(data, '#amazing').then(function(success) {
                        console.log('shareViaInstagram Success', success);
                    }, function(err) {
                        console.log('shareViaInstagram failed', err);
                    });
                };
                reader.readAsDataURL(file)
            });
        });
    },
    function(error) {},
    function(progress) {
});

Quirks:

Android

• Passing caption in addition to sharing image requires Instagram Android application version 6.1.0 or higher.
• Older versions of Android (2.x-3.x) do not have proper support for toDataURL on canvas elements. You can still get the canvas content as dataURL following these instructions. Pass the dataUrl instead of the canvas id to share.

iOS

• Although the plugin follows the instructions to show only Instagram in the document interaction controller, there are reports that other apps appear in the list.

Recipes

• Sharing image when knowing the file url.

License

The plugin is available under MIT license.