Starting October 24th, you won’t be able to automatically embed Instagram and Facebook content in WordPress using the default methods thanks to a breaking change within the Facebook API.
But don’t worry, during this article, we’ll show you ways to repair the Facebook and Instagram embed issue in WordPress, so your content embeds keep working, and you never lose any features.
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Why will the Instagram And Facebook Embeds Stop Working In WordPress?
That’s because Facebook recently announced that each one of oEmbed requests for Instagram and Facebook content are going to be deprecated on 10th-24th-2020.
This API is prime to both Gutenberg and therefore the WordPress Classic editor’s default embed feature that allows you to easily embed videos, pictures, updates, and other content from Instagram and Facebook.
Facebook now requires each developer to register an app, and use a token (client) when collecting data from their Graph API for oEmbed content.
This is not scalable for WordPress core team to implement within the WordPress project, so a choice has been made to get rid of Instagram and Facebook embed feature from WordPress core in favor of letting WordPress plugins solve the difficulty for users (core ticket #50861)
So basically if you’ve got any Facebook embeds in your WordPress content, then they’re going to break and appearance like this after October 24th:
If you’ve got any Instagram embeds in your WordPress content, they’re going to break.
How Can I Fix the Instagram & Facebook oEmbed Issue ?
The easiest way to fix the oEmbed issue is to use the Smash Balloon free Instagram Feed plugin, and custom Facebook Feed plugin.
These plugins are developed by wpbeginners team at Awesome Motive, and they’re employed by over 1.2 million users.
When they heard about this upcoming breaking change, they realized that they were within the best position to unravel the matter for users and therefore the larger WordPress community.
Since Smash Balloon has got to register an API key to make custom feeds for both Facebook and Instagram, they didn’t need any additional authentication to revive this functionality.
If you’re already using their Smash Balloon feed plugin, then you merely got to upgrade to the newest version, and therefore the default oEmbed features will still work with none issues.
If you run into any troubles, or if you’re a replacement user who wants to revive the oEmbed functionality, then simply attend the oEmbed navigation menu under Smash Ballon’s Facebook / Instagram feed plugin, then click on the Connect button.
The best part about using the Smash Balloon plugins is that you simply won’t got to undergo a sophisticated process of making your own app.
They made the method easy for beginners, and as a bonus, you’ll now have all the powerful custom feed features of the Smash Ballon Instagram and Facebook feed plugins.
Restore Default Instagram And Facebook oEmbed Features With A Different Method
If you’re a developer and would like to go through the complex process of registering a Facebook app for every client site to revive this functionality, then you’ll use the oEmbed Plus plugin.
It’s a replacement plugin created by one of the volunteer developers to put back the default oEmbed for Facebook and Instagram.
Take A Quick Action and Spread the Word
There are only less than 2 weeks left before the Facebook and Instagram embeds in WordPress will pack up. .
If you have ever embedded content from Facebook or Instagram on your site using the default embed features, then you would like to act fast.
We strongly recommend that you simply install and activate the Smash Balloon free Instagram Feed plugin, and custom Facebook Feed plugin.
If you’re new in your WordPress journey and just started a blog, then we also recommend that you simply install the above plugins, so you’ve got access to the straightforward embed blocks for Facebook and Instagram.
Last but not least, we’d like your help in spreading the word, so more people can fix this issue on their website before things start breaking. Please share this post in your network and help us spread the word.
We hope this post helped you find out how to solve the Facebook and Instagram oEmbed issue in WordPress.