Instagram scheduler
Write once, choose where it lands, and let the composer refuse the combinations Instagram would refuse anyway. What follows is what the publisher actually enforces, not a feature list.
The rules exist either way
The only question is whether you meet them in the composer or in a failure notice.
Posting from the phone
- The carousel you built for the feed will not go out as a Story, and you find out while holding the phone.
- A Story video is refused for a cap that is measured separately from every other video.
- The collaborator is typed from memory, and the invitation goes to an account that does not exist.
- Every posting slot is something you have to be awake for.
With the composer
- A placement that cannot carry your media is refused in the composer, while there is still time to change it.
- Story video is measured against the Story cap, because the platform treats it as a different object.
- Collaborators are searched by username inside the composer, so you confirm the account before it is invited.
- The slot is a time you chose once, not a time you have to be free at.
Three placements, and the fields only Instagram has
Each tile is a rule the composer enforces, read from the same registry the publisher validates against.
Images, carousels, video, or a mix
A single image, a carousel, one video, several videos, or images and video together in one post. What the feed will not take is a post with no media at all, because Instagram has nowhere to put it.
The placement that accepts the most shapes.
Video only, feed grid optional
A Reel takes video and nothing else. Whether it also appears in the feed grid is a switch on the post rather than a second upload.
One image or one video
A Story carries a single piece of media, and Story video is capped separately from feed video because the platform treats the two as different objects.
Collaborators
Invited by username and searched from inside the composer, on feed posts and on Reels. You confirm the account exists before the post goes out rather than after the invitation lands nowhere.
Trial Reels
Show a Reel to non-followers first. Either you release it to your followers yourself from the Instagram app, or Instagram does it for you when the Reel performs.
Location geo-tag
Searched against the platform's own place list, so the post carries a real place rather than a line of text that looks like one.
How an Instagram post gets out
Three steps, and nothing retyped between them.
Authorize the account, not your password
You approve on Instagram's own screen and we never see a password. Personal accounts do not appear in the list, because the platform does not let publishing tools post to them.
Write once, adapt per placement
One caption across the accounts you picked, or its own version where a placement needs one. Fields that would do nothing on a Story are not shown on a Story, so there is nothing to remember and nothing to undo.
Checked before it is sent, reported per account
Caption length, media count and the rules of the placement are verified while you can still change them. Afterwards the status comes back per account, so a post that landed on two and failed on a third says exactly that, and the one that failed can be retried on its own.
What Instagram accepts, in numbers
Read from the same registry the composer validates against, so this page cannot disagree with the publisher.
- 3
- placements
- 5
- post formats accepted
- 10
- images in one post
- 2,200
- caption characters
- 15 min
- of video in one post
- 0
- passwords handed over
Questions about Instagram specifically
Can I schedule to a personal Instagram account?
No. Instagram only lets publishing tools post to business and creator accounts, so those are the only ones the composer connects. That is the platform's rule rather than ours, and switching an account over is done in the Instagram app.
Can I send a carousel as a Story?
No. A Story carries one image or one video. The composer refuses the combination in front of you rather than accepting it and failing at send time.
Can I tag accounts in a photo?
Not in the way the Instagram app does. Inviting a collaborator and tagging someone in a photo are two different things, and only the first is available through the publishing API. Collaborators can be invited on feed posts and on Reels.
What is a Trial Reel?
A Reel shown to non-followers first instead of going straight to everybody who follows you. You either release it to your followers yourself from the Instagram app, or let Instagram do it automatically if the Reel performs.
Will a Reel also show up in my grid?
That is yours to decide. Sharing a Reel to the feed grid is a switch on the post, so the same upload can appear in both places or in Reels alone.
Do you show how the post performed?
Yes. Performance is collected per published post, so the calendar becomes a record of what worked rather than only of what you sent. For a whole account, including one that is not yours, Instagram analytics is a separate page here.
Can I schedule the hashtags too?
Yes, and you do not have to retype them. A saved hashtag list can be pushed into the composer while you write, and the lists themselves come from Instagram hashtag research on this site.
What happens if one account fails and the others go out?
You see it per account rather than as one result for the whole post, and the account that failed can be retried on its own without republishing to the ones that already succeeded.
Still deciding? Ask us anything