igsh?The token Instagram attaches when you share a post, reel or profile out of the app, tying every open of that link back to your specific share.
This page covers both generations: igsh (current) and igshid (its predecessor, still seen on older links).
Share a post out of Instagram and the copied link carries igsh, a base64-looking token. Its predecessor igshid appeared around 2019; the shorter igsh replaced it. Either way the token identifies the share event: who shared, from where in the app, roughly when.
When your friend opens the link, Meta can connect their visit, and their account if they are logged in, to your share. Fold enough of these together and the platform maps who actually talks to whom off the platform, which is information Instagram cannot otherwise see.
The post renders identically without the token, logged in or out.
Yes. The post, reel or profile loads identically without it. Only Meta's ability to map the share chain is lost.
Rather's Link Shortener strips igsh and hundreds of parameters like it, right in the address bar and in everything you copy or share. Free, open source, no account, no data collection, and the page you are on never breaks: the cleanup happens after the site has already loaded.