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Why Your Instagram Feed Isn't Showing All Images: Common Issues and Fixes

33 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Smash balloon social photo feed – easy social feeds plugin

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If your Smash Balloon Instagram feed is displaying fewer images than expected, showing duplicates, or presenting blank boxes, you're not alone. These are some of the most frequently reported issues by users of the popular 'Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin'. Based on community support threads, here are the common causes and their solutions.

Common Causes and Their Solutions

1. Outdated Plugin Version

Instagram frequently makes unannounced changes to its API. An outdated plugin version is often the root cause of feeds showing blank images, only one image, or incorrect image counts.

Solution: Always ensure your plugin is updated to the latest version. Navigate to your WordPress Dashboard > Plugins page to check for and apply updates. After updating, clear your website's cache.

2. Instagram API Limitations

Instagram's API imposes strict limits on what data can be retrieved. This can lead to missing posts.

  • Reels: Instagram Reels are not currently available through the API and will not appear in your feed, in either the Free or Pro versions.
  • IGTV: IGTV posts will only display if you are connected with an Instagram Business Profile.
  • Other Posts: Very long videos or posts from 'Camera Roll' may sometimes be missing from the API response.

3. Theme or Plugin Conflicts

Conflicts with your theme or other plugins are a common source of display issues like duplicate images, incorrect column layouts, or blank spaces.

Solution: Try these troubleshooting steps in your plugin's Customize > Misc settings:

  • Enable 'Are you using an Ajax powered Theme?'
  • Enable 'Load initial posts with AJAX'

These options change how the feed loads and can often resolve conflicts. If the problem is specifically a blank space in the first position, it may be a CSS conflict. Try adding this custom CSS:

#sbi_images::before { display: none !important; }

4. Optimization and Caching Issues

Aggressive optimization plugins that combine or minify CSS/JS files can break the feed's styling, causing grey boxes or missing images.

Solution: Temporarily disable your caching or optimization plugin. If the feed works normally, reconfigure your optimization settings to exclude the plugin's files, particularly sbi-styles.min.css.

5. Third-Party Script Interference

Other scripts, like sliders from your theme, can sometimes reformat or interfere with the Instagram feed.

Solution: If you notice a specific number of images (e.g., only 4 out of 20), check if a script like 'slick slider' is affecting the feed. Test by temporarily disabling the theme's scripts or using a default WordPress theme.

When to Suspect a Different Problem

  • Random Sorting: The 'random' parameter does not shuffle posts on every page load. It randomizes the order each time the plugin's cache is cleared.
  • Number of Posts: In plugin versions 6.0+, the number of posts is set in the feed editor (Feed Layout), not the shortcode. Using num= in the shortcode will no longer work.
  • Missing Images: If you see only captions and no images, confirm you are using the correct shortcode and not a similar feature built into your theme.

By methodically working through these common causes, you can usually identify and fix the issue preventing your Instagram feed from displaying correctly.

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