Facebook Reels Scraper Advanced

Overview

Extracts metadata specifically from Facebook Reels. Provide one or multiple Facebook URLs, and the actor returns structured data like view counts, duration, uploader information, and thumbnails. It filters out non-reel content automatically. Results are stored in an Apify Dataset and as a consolidated JSON object in the key-value store.

Key Features

• Targeted Scraping: Extracts data only from Reels, skipping other video types.
• Comprehensive Metadata: Captures title, description, view count, duration, uploader details, and thumbnail URLs.
• Scalable Execution: Handles single URLs or bulk lists efficiently.
• Multiple Outputs: Saves individual records to a Dataset and an aggregated ALL_RESULTS JSON to the key-value store.
• Privacy-Safe: Runs on the Apify platform with optional proxy support.

How to Use

You can run the actor from the Apify Console, via the API, or using the CLI.

Apify Console

1. Open the actor in the Apify Console.
2. In the Input tab, paste your input as JSON (see Input section below).
3. Click Run Actor.

API / CLI Example

Run the actor via a direct HTTP call or using the Apify Client.

cURL:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/<USERNAME~ACTOR-NAME>/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://www.facebook.com/reel/EXAMPLE"}], "maxItems": 10}'

Python (apify-client):

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient('<APIFY_TOKEN>')
run = client.actor('your_username/facebook-reels-extractor').call(
    run_input={
        'startUrls': [{'url': 'https://www.facebook.com/reel/EXAMPLE'}],
        'maxItems': 10
    }
)

Replace <APIFY_TOKEN> and your_username/facebook-reels-extractor with your actual token and actor identifier.

Input

Configure the actor using the following input fields provided as JSON.

Example Input:

{
  "startUrls": [ { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/EXAMPLE" } ],
  "maxItems": 10,
  "useApifyProxy": true
}

Field Details:
* startUrls (array, required): List of Facebook URLs to process. Use the format [{"url": "https://..."}].
* maxItems (integer, optional): Maximum number of reels to extract. Default is 0 (no limit).
* cookiesFile (string, optional): Name of a cookies file uploaded to Apify Console, useful for accessing restricted content.
* useApifyProxy (boolean, optional): Set to true to use Apify Proxy for the scraping session. Recommended.
* httpProxy (string, optional): Credentials for a custom proxy (e.g., "<PROXY_USER:PASS@HOST:PORT>"). Store credentials as secrets.

Output

The actor produces two main outputs:

1. Dataset: Contains a separate item for each successfully scraped reel.
2. Key-Value Store: A single JSON object under the key ALL_RESULTS containing an array of all extracted reel data.

Example Dataset Entry:

{
  "platform": "facebook",
  "content_type": "reel",
  "webpage_url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/EXAMPLE",
  "id": "12345",
  "title": "Short sample reel",
  "duration_seconds": 33,
  "view_count": 15000,
  "uploader": "Page Name",
  "uploader_id": "98765",
  "thumbnail": "https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/example.jpg",
  "timestamp": "2023-10-05T14:30:00.000Z"
}