A so-easy-it’s-crazy way to schedule Instagram posts right in the Instagram app! Works for iPhone and Android. Photo tutorial included.
Confession alert – Instagram is one of my favorite hobbies. Yes, you read that correctly. I love taking photos to share, editing them and looking at my grid obsessively to make sure everything fits together just so.
It takes more time than I care to admit.
It’s also hard to make sure I post at the best times for follower engagement if I’m busy doing something else. To avoid this, I pre-schedule my Instagram photos. I like to prep all of my photos and captions ahead of time so that when I’m ready, my posts are also ready to go. That makes it easier to post at the best times, even if I am busy doing something else.
All you need to know is summed up in two words – airplane mode. This tip works for both iPhone and Android phones.
The secret to Instagram scheduling is as simple as using airplane mode! Right before posting, turn your phone to airplane mode and you’ll get an “upload failed” message when you hit the check button to post your photo. Don’t be fooled though – your photo is still there! Instagram will save your edited photo with caption and location info. Then, when you are ready to post, just hit the refresh button and your post will magically appear! That’s it! Instagram scheduling made easy. The photos should still be there even if you restart your phone or download an app update. If you logout of the app though, they will probably disappear.
Here’s a step by step tutorial with screenshots:
- Edit your photo as you normally would.
2. Type in your caption, tag people and add location information as your normally would.
3. Before you hit the checkbox to submit your post, turn your phone on airplane mode. Below is how I do this on my Android phone. Here’s a tutorial on how to do this on an iPhone.
4. Now hit the checkmark to post your photo. You will get an ‘upload failed’ error. But fear not, your photo will now show at the top of your homepage feed with both a refresh and a delete option next to it.
5. When you are ready to actually post your Instagram, just hit the ‘refresh’ button and your post will instantly load, with your edits, caption, tags and location information. That’s it!
Check out my Instagram home screen –
Can you believe how many posts I have edited and ready to go? Perfect for those days that I don’t have any new content to share!
Thanks so much for reading A Side of Sweet! For more Sweet in your life, you can find me on Instagram (obviously!), Snapchat (@asideofsweet), Pinterest, Facebook, Bloglovin’, or Twitter, or subscribe to receive a weekly email with new posts (see sidebar).
Tell me, do you have any tips for managing Instagram?
P.S. – Love this Instagram hack? Check out this post on Choosing the Best Hashtags for Instagram:
Annie Montgomery says
this is genius, Kelly! and, really, I’d expect nothing less than a full backlog ready to go! 😉
Kelly Egan says
Haha, right!? I had to share my crazy screen as part of it. 🙂
Alix says
Great tip! I had no idea you could save that many that way. I will definitely be trying this out this week.
Alix
Kelly Egan says
Nice! Hope it helps you streamline your workflow!
suki says
Nice hack.
Kelly Egan says
Thanks lady!
Tiffany Ingram says
Definitely a useful tip! I could see myself scheduling these while on the bus and having them all prepared to post. Thanks lady!
Kelly Egan says
Exactly! That’s how I do it too…..on the go when I can’t do anything else.
BakingGypsy says
Wow this is awesome!!! 😀 😀 Thank you so much for sharing this awesome tip!
Kelly Egan says
No problem! I hope it will help you as much as it helps me!
Sara says
Great idea! Pinning to my blogger resources board!
Kelly Egan says
Hooray! Thanks for sharing it Sara!
Johlene Orton says
Great idea! Sharing on Pinterest on my BLOGGING RESOURCES MADE EASY group board 🙂
Kelly Egan says
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing it Johlene!
nicole (thespicetrain.com) says
Absolutely BRILLIANT! Thank you, Kelly!!
Kelly Egan says
Coming from you Nicole, that means quite a lot! Thanks for the comment!
Elaina Newton says
Wow, this is truly the most clever social media tip I’ve read in awhile! Thanks for sharing!
Kelly Egan says
Awesome! So glad to be of help Elaina!
Bam's Kitchen says
Thanks so much for sharing Kelly! This is a brilliant time saver.
Kelly Egan says
No problem! Hope it helps you to be a bit more streamlined!
Holly Waterfall says
This is genius! Thanks for sharing!
Kelly Egan says
No problem! Happy to help Holly!
Melanie @ Gather for Bread says
Great tip! I’m going to try it out. 🙂
Kelly Egan says
Awesome! Let me know if you have any questions!
Jessica at Team Wiking says
Do you take it out of airplane mode after the first upload fails? I use latergramme for scheduling but it does have a limit.
Kelly @A Side of Sweet says
I do. You can just use your phone normally until you want the pic to go up and then you hit refresh!
Lisa Thebearfootbaker says
This is one of the most brilliant Instagram tips EVER! Thank you for sharing!
Kelly Egan says
Wow! Thanks so much Lisa!
Nkenge says
Hello Kelly!!
I was honestly thinking of this idea earlier this week! Glad to see a post about it in detail! I just have one question. Being that hashtags are most affective at the time of your post, does it affect the time hashtags are posted along with your photo?
This was my only concern, before I begin to get my posts ready!
http://www.itsnkenge.com
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
No, it won’t affect the timing. They will show up like you just posted them!
Nan @ HungryEnoughToEatSix.com says
This is an excellent tip, thanks so much for sharing it! I found you via today’s Useletter from Amy Lynn Andrews.
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Yay! Glad you found it helpful Nan. Thanks so much for stopping by!
tisha @ quiltytherapy says
This is beyond helpful. I had wondered how people were “scheduling” instagram posts regularly.
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Great! Happy it was useful for you.
Liz Plummer says
Thanks for this, brilliant idea! It’s so difficult to space out the pics, especially when you’ve got several ready to go and lots of enthusiasm for editing photos but don’t want to spam people with too many all at once…
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Thanks Liz! This definitely makes it easier to have regular content, but not forget about all of those photos that you didn’t post right away!
Justin says
OMG SO CLEVER! I always have the same struggle. I’ve used Hootsuite to schedule my posts but it’s not that friendly. This seems easy and awesome 😛 Thanks for sharing!
Kelly - A Side of Sweet says
Hooray! So happy this is helpful for you.
clotilde says
Great tip, thank you for sharing! I was worried the “drafts” would be lost when the app was shut down and restarted, but it looks like it’s all there. Super!
Found you through Amy Lynn Andrews’ newsletter. ^^
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Hi Clotilde – Thank you so much for stopping by! For me, the photos have lasted through app updates and phone restarts, which is so amazing! The only thing that will get you into trouble is logging off of Instagram and switching to another user, or switching phones.
clotilde says
That’s really good to know, Kelly, thanks. I’m doing an Instagram takeover on Friday — that’s why I’m looking into scheduling! — so I’ll need to use that trick only once I’m logged into that particular account.
Nancy | Plus Ate Six says
I feel like an instagram dinosaur 🙁 I had no idea this sort of thing was actually possible. Wow! Brilliant hack 🙂
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Haha, I’d never heard of it before I randomly figured it out!
Betsy @ Desserts Required says
Seriously….BRILLIANT!!! Thanks so much for the tips!
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Awesome, glad it helped!
Joy Love Bernstein says
wow thank you….now this is the second trick I have learned about IG!!!
WOW thank you this has helped…lol Let the standby begins..lol
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Yay! So glad you found this helpful!
Melissa E Earle says
So let Mee see if I get this right. Your photo won’t post to Instagram when you turn your airplane mode off. You manually hit the refresh little half circle arrow to do it?
I was thinking when I read the top half of this blog post, “yeah but what if I still want to do stuff on Mee phone, then I have to stay offline until I’m ready.” But in reading lower in the post, no that’s not the case, you just need to be in airplane mode for the second you initially post that photo. Correct?
Such a cool tip! Thanks for sharing!!
Cheerio, Mee
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Hi Mee – You just need to be in airplane mode for a few seconds! It will stay on the top of your Instagram feed until you are ready to share it unless you log out of the app. You can even restart your phone or update the app and it should still be there.
Julie Spear says
Found you through “Ask Amy” newsletter – and YOU, my dear, are a GENIUS!!!!! I have been studying up on which separate app I would need to do this, if… NO, WHEN I finally get my blog up LIVE!!!! and now I don’t need one… therefore I LOVE you! Thank you so much for sharing!!! now I am off to read “How to share Instagram hashtags” because I don’t know how to do that either!!! and I TOO, freakin LOVE Instagram!!! and I won’t tell how many hours I spend looking at all the pretty pictures either, LOL!!!
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Awesome! So glad that this helped your workflow. Thanks for stopping by Julie!
Barely Vegan says
I know this is an old post, but a while ago someone (maybe it was you!) mentioned this technique in a Facebook group I’m in and he/she shared this blog post in the group. I finally had the chance to try it today. This is AWESOME! I’m about to upload all of my instagram photos for the week now and release one each day. Thank you for sharing this secret. It will help me save SOOOOO much time. 🙂
Kelly Egan - A Side of Sweet says
Oh yay! So glad this was helpful and thanks for your kind words!