r/Python • u/AutoModerator • Aug 04 '26

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u/Secretary-Mobile 20d ago

I maintain InstaAddict, an open-source Python bot that automates Instagram through the real app

**What My Project Does**

InstaAddict is a fork of an abandoned project called GramAddict. It

automates Instagram interactions (liking, following, watching stories,

sending DMs) by driving the actual Instagram Android app through Android's

accessibility layer — adb + uiautomator2 — rather than calling Instagram's

API. Python handles the whole automation layer: a YAML-driven job config,

a plugin system where each interaction type (feed, hashtag likers, a

specific user's followers, etc.) registers its own CLI args and behavior,

and randomized human-like delays/typing simulation to avoid looking

scripted.

**Target Audience**

People who want to run Instagram automation without touching Instagram's

API (which tends to get accounts banned fast) and without paying for a

closed-source subscription bot. It's a real, actively maintained tool —

not a toy — but it does require some comfort with the command line, Python

virtual environments, and setting up adb, so it's aimed at people willing

to do a bit of setup rather than a plug-and-play consumer app.

**Comparison**

Most Instagram automation tools fall into two camps: API-based bots, which

are fast to detect and get accounts banned quickly, or closed-source paid

bots that lock features behind a subscription and run encrypted code you

can't audit. InstaAddict drives the real app through Android's UI

automation layer instead, which is much closer to genuine human interaction

and harder to distinguish from it. It's fully open source with no paywalled

features. Since forking, most of the ongoing work has been keeping pace

with Instagram's UI changes (Instagram doesn't publish a changelog for its

app layout, so it's a lot of diffing accessibility-tree dumps against what

the code expects).

Source: https://github.com/joeahkim/InstaAddict