Hi Hunters!
I and @k_vrbova have made this simple site that lets you easily schedule Instagram posts and publishes them for you. I know there’s already a bunch of sites that do this, but here’s the problem I have with them and the solution:
🤔 Problem:
I enjoy taking photos, editing them, but I don’t enjoy publishing them on Instagram from my tiny phone screen, because I’m more a computer guy. I also find whole process of posting a photo as a huge productivity and time killer. I’d rather schedule all my photos (with captions) in a single hour than do it one by one throughout the week.
I found a few sites that do exactly what I was looking for, but all have one major problem - they save your Instagram password.
💡 Solution:
Create a site that lets you schedule Instagram posts, publishes them for you and does not store in any shape or form your Instagram password.
So, during christmas holidays we reserved a week to make this thing happen.
🛠 How it’s made:
We’ve made the overall design by ourselves. @k_vrbova created all the illustrations and graphics. She also coded almost entire landing page without any actual coding experience! I coded the rest. I used react for the frontend, backend and posting scripts are written in node.js, database is mongodb (I’d choose differently now). 97% of all work was done in a single week.
How can we not store Instagram password?
When user adds his Instagram account he is asked to provide a password, but we never actually save it (see it or trace it), we just use the password to fill in Instagram login form and nothing more. After successful login we use the “stay logged in” feature to keep publishing for user without any hassle. Also, our site uses only HTTPS - meaning all communications between user’s browser and our site are encrypted.
How does posting work?
The actual publishing to Instagram is done by emulating android devices, so in practise we click on the same buttons as user would normally do. We certainly do not use Instagram private API or some other shady business.
Give Postedo a try, you can only gain! :)
- Register is super simple (only email required)
- There’s no credit card requirement, there isn’t actually any pricing
- You can publish 2 posts per day
Please, leave us any kind of feedback, thank you! ❤️
@k_vrbova@pkrupar The reason you only found websites that require you to enter and save your password, is because the Instagram ToS, and the Instagram API ToS prevent you from posting photos... so there's no way to do this via the API login.
It basically comes down to this: You might want to schedule up all your photos for the week, but Instagram wants you to post them from your phone.
The best option currently available are tools like Buffer and Hootsuite, which allow you to schedule your photos up, and then remind you at the time you're required to post, pre-populating your clipboard/photo feed with the text/photos that you need to post at that time.
Everything else is against the Instagram terms of use, and risks punitive measures - which these days is likely to result in Instagram filtering you out of all their discovery algorithms, which will kill your post engagement, rather than an outright account ban.
@k_vrbova@rossdcurrie I think you completely misunderstood and your response doesn't give much of a sense to me. My point is, there aren't any good sites, that will automatically publish for me and not store my password.
To best of my knowledge, we don't violate any Instagram's terms.
- We don't store user's credentials.
- We do not use Instagram's private API (which I pointed out several times).
Buffer or Hootsuite isn't for everyone. You still need to publish the post manually and that's not an option for many people. An example is social media account manager that is in a different timezone than client's targeted audience. Or just a dude that prefers to hang out with friends instead of eagerly waiting for that sweet Hootsuite notification.
Postedo isn't for everyone either, but at least it is finally a safe option for those who don't want to share their Instagram password and still be able to schedule posts.
@k_vrbova@pkrupar Well, it's pretty simple.
4. You agree that you will not solicit, collect or use the login credentials of other Instagram users.
You are soliciting and using your user's login credentials. Whether you store them is irrelevant.
Regardless of whether you think you've found a loophole, Instagram has shown that they have zero tolerance for apps that provide services that circumvent their UI and API. Best of luck!
Is your app not breaching term 4 of Instagram's terms of use? https://help.instagram.com/47874...
"4. You agree that you will not solicit, collect or use the login credentials of other Instagram users"
Edit: Also term 5 of Instagram's public API platform policy: https://www.instagram.com/about/...
"5. Don't store or cache Instagram login credentials."
@matt_aunger Thank you for the question. Well, we're actually the only site that doesn't store user's password and that's also the main point why we build this. There're several similar products which don't stress this enough. I think those who want to save their time and use tool like this will always find a way, even though it might be a sketchy one. With that in mind, why not give them a safer option. That's why Postedo exists.
@matt_aunger Also
10. You must not access Instagram's private API by means other than those permitted by Instagram
and
34. Don't reverse engineer the Instagram APIs or any of Instagram's apps.
Amazing, thanks for that, it will be really handy! Are you positive Instagram won't figure it out, though?
Some copy feedback: it's 'Features you'll fall in love with' - missing the last word on your website.
@desmondzik Thank you for your comment! Before we started building Postedo I was looking at that and I haven't found out anything worrying. There're a few similar sites, that posts for the user and they operate a few years now without any problems as far as I can tell.
I also don't think Instagram has any interest in looking at automated posting or dealing with it because distinguishing real user and not so real user when we click on the same set of buttons is too difficult to do right. Imagine how annoying for users would be if an algorithm made a mistake and flag them as not so real. Big sites such as Instagram with huge traffic can't effort even slight chance of such failure.
Furthermore, you could hire an assistent to post for you and it would be practically the same thing as using a virtual one. Nowadays, every large company has a dedicated team to manage their social and to post for them. That's the same thing, again.
But, I could be wrong, you never know. I can't influence Instagram's actions, however, I can make Postedo save for users to use by banning potential spammers, so the community of Postedo users is not harmful to Instagram in any way.
You're right, thank your for pointing that out. We thought the "with" made the title too long, but we should reconsider.
Please, let me know if you have any further questions. :)
@pkrupar Thanks for the long explanation. Makes sense and makes you wonder why the big boys like Buffer and Hootsuite don't do that.
As for the long headline - maybe 'Features you'll love'? Sounds good and is actually correct, haha.
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