Squarespace Instagram feed not updating? What to check, in order

When a Squarespace Instagram feed stops updating, look at the connection before the block. Open Connected Accounts, click your Instagram account, make sure Download Data is checked and click Reset Data. Still stuck? Disconnect, log out of Instagram, reconnect with a professional account, re-select it in the block, then wait up to an hour and check in a private window.

Checked on November 4, 2026, against Squarespace’s help pages and Meta’s developer docs, all linked below.

This guide covers Squarespace’s own Instagram block (your latest posts shown on a page) and the Instagram icon in your social links. If your feed comes from a third-party widget pasted into a code block, the checks below don’t apply: reconnect inside that widget’s own dashboard instead.

First, make sure it’s really stuck

Three things make a working block look frozen. Rule them out before you change any setting.

It hasn’t refreshed yet. Squarespace’s Instagram blocks page says blocks “update about every 30 minutes, so new posts may not appear immediately.” Its Connecting Instagram page says the block updates the feed “about every hour.” Take the longer one: give a new post a full hour.

Your last post is one the block can’t show. The Instagram blocks page lists what it leaves out or changes:

If your last post was a Story or a reel you made with a co-creator, the block is working. It’s showing your most recent post it’s allowed to show.

Your browser is showing an old copy. Squarespace’s browser troubleshooting page suggests opening your site in a private or incognito window, which turns off extensions. If the new post appears there, jump to step 6.

The decision tree at a glance

Find the line that matches what you see, then go to that step. If nothing matches, work through the steps from 1.

Check and fix, in order

All the account steps happen in the Connected Accounts panel. Squarespace’s main menu page puts it in the Settings panel, which opens from the gear icon at the bottom of the main menu.

1. Check Download Data, then reset the data

This is the first check on Squarespace’s Instagram blocks page:

1. Open the Connected Accounts panel.
2. Click your Instagram account.
3. Make sure Download Data is checked. Without it, the block may not load your photos.
4. Click Reset Data.
5. Click Save and refresh the page.

Squarespace’s connected accounts page adds that after a reset you should wait a few minutes, then refresh your browser.

2. Reconnect the account

Do this if the account shows an error next to its name, or if step 1 changed nothing. Squarespace’s connected accounts page says that changing a connected account’s password or permissions “can often cause the account to disconnect.” If you changed your Instagram password recently, start here.

The steps, from the Instagram blocks page:

1. In Connected Accounts, click your Instagram account.
2. Click Disconnect, then Confirm.
3. In a separate tab, log out of all Instagram accounts on your device.
4. Back in Connected Accounts, click Connect, then Instagram, and log in with your Instagram username and password.
5. Click Save.
6. Go to the page with the Instagram block. In the block editor’s account tab, open the Connected Account menu and select your Instagram account again.
7. Click Save.

Step 6 is the one people skip. Disconnecting removes the account from every area of your site, so every Instagram block stays blank until you re-select the account in it.

3. Make sure it’s a professional account

Squarespace is direct about it: “You must have a professional account to connect your account to Squarespace.” That means a Business or Creator account. If yours is personal, Squarespace says the reconnection process will guide you through switching to a professional account.

Why personal accounts no longer work comes down to Meta. Meta announced in September 2024 that starting on December 4, 2024, the Instagram Basic Display API would no longer be available and that “all Instagram Basic Display API requests will fail from that day onwards.” That API was the one built for consumer apps. Meta said there would no longer be a set of Instagram APIs for consumer developer apps, and pointed businesses and creators to two replacements:

Both are on Meta’s Instagram Platform page, and its overview says the platform’s APIs work with “Instagram professional accounts including both businesses and creators.” In short, Meta no longer offers an Instagram API for personal accounts, so switching to a professional account is the fix.

While you’re there, check that the account is public. Squarespace recommends it: posts from a private account still display, but they lead to a dead link.

Every app that reads your posts holds a permission from Meta that can lapse. For apps that use Instagram Login, Meta’s developer docs say a long-lived access token is valid for 60 days and expires if the app doesn’t refresh it. Refreshing is the app’s job, not yours, but it’s one more reason a fresh login fixes so many stalled feeds.

4. Check which account the block is using

Each Instagram block shows one account. Squarespace’s Instagram blocks page says to connect each account to a different block. Click the block, open its settings with the pencil icon, and look at the Account tab: the right account should be selected there.

If the block shows a different account than the one you meant, the wrong one got connected. Squarespace’s Connecting Instagram page explains that your site connects to whichever account is logged in on Instagram’s website, so log out first. If you use one login for several Instagram accounts, you’ll need separate credentials for each one you connect. Then reconnect with step 2.

5. Replace the block

If the connection is fine and the block still won’t change, delete it and add a new one, as the Instagram blocks page describes:

1. Open the Pages panel, click the page with the Instagram block, then click Edit.
2. Click the Instagram block, then the trash can icon.
3. Add a new Instagram block.
4. In its Account tab, select your account and use the slider to set the number of posts, up to 20.
5. Click Save and refresh the page.

Deleting the block shouldn’t remove the connection in Connected Accounts.

6. Rule out your browser

If the post shows in a private window but not in your usual browser, the problem is on your side of the screen:

• Ad blockers and extensions. Squarespace’s Instagram blocks page says to remove any ad blockers first, then try turning off all browser extensions.
• Cache. Squarespace’s cache page gives the shortcuts to reload one page without its saved copy: Command + Shift + R on a Mac or Ctrl + F5 on Windows in Chrome and Firefox, and Option + Command + E, then refresh, in Safari.

7. Still stuck: contact Squarespace, and know its limit

If none of this works, contact Squarespace support and list what you’ve already tried, steps 1 to 6. Squarespace sets one limit on its Instagram blocks page: “we can’t help with issues caused by policy changes or product updates on Instagram.” If the problem started the day Instagram changed something, the fix may have to come from Meta’s side.

Instagram icon not updating? Social links are just links

The Instagram icon in your header, footer or a social links block doesn’t pull anything from Instagram. Squarespace’s social links blocks page describes it as icons that link to your profiles, and those links come from the Social links panel. Nothing in it reads your account, so it never needs reconnecting.

What does go wrong:

• You changed your Instagram username. The icon still points to the old address. Click Edit on the page, click the pencil icon on the social links block, then in its Content tab click the Instagram link and change its URL to your new profile.
• The icon disappeared. The social icons page says each link has a Show Social Icon checkbox, and the panel marks each one Hidden or Visible.

The block’s links and the Social links panel are the same list, so a change in either one shows on every social links block on your site at once.

Product tags out of date? That’s the product sync

If you sell on Squarespace Commerce, you may have a second connection to Meta: the product sync that lets you tag products in Instagram posts. It has nothing to do with the Instagram block. Squarespace’s product sync page says it’s a one-way sync from your store to Meta, set up in the Products on Facebook & Instagram panel, and that product updates sync to Meta every hour.

Three things on that page explain stale product details on Instagram:

• Timing. Updates reach Meta on the hourly sync, so a new price or photo can take up to an hour to show.
• A site-wide password. Catalogs can’t sync while one is active.
• Custom shipping options. They don’t sync to Meta at all.

For trouble with the Instagram or Facebook account itself, Squarespace points you to Instagram or Meta.

Once it updates, give it something to show

A fixed block only shows what’s on your Instagram. It’s a live copy of your grid on your own site, often on the home page, where shoppers decide whether your store is still open for business. If your last post is from August, a working block says so to every visitor.

Two free things help. The Instagram grid preview lets you see your next posts next to your current ones before they go live, so the grid your block shows looks like your store. The 15-minute grid fix is a short guide with 12 fixes for a store’s Instagram grid. For what to post, start with the post ideas for online stores, or the candle business ideas if you pour your own.

If the block is fine and the real problem is that nothing new gets posted, that’s the job Season was built for. Season reads products, photos and prices from Shopify and WooCommerce stores, and from other store sites when their product pages can be read. It designs posts in your look, plans 3 months on a calendar and publishes them at set times through Instagram’s official API. It needs a professional account too, the same one Squarespace needs. It won’t fix a broken block or a Meta setting, but it keeps the block fed. Season opens soon: get early access.