Connect Instagram
What Instagram needs, and how connecting works.
What you need
- An Instagram professional account (Business or Creator). Switching is free: in the Instagram app, open Settings, then Account type and tools.
- Nothing else: you do not need a Facebook Page for Instagram.
Connect it
- In pickthepost, open Accounts and press Connect Instagram.
- Instagram's own sign-in page opens. Sign in there if asked, choose the account, and allow what pickthepost asks for.
- You come back to Accounts, with the account listed as working.
The very first time, the app shows a one-time setup for the platform (an app ID and secret from the Meta app dashboard); after that, Connect goes straight to the sign-in.
How connecting works
You approve pickthepost on Instagram's own page. Instagram then gives pickthepost a key that can publish and read your posts' numbers. Your password is never typed anywhere but Instagram.
The key lasts 60 days, and the robot renews it by itself every week, so it does not run out while it is in use.
Check that it works
Open Accounts. Each account shows working when its key works, with the name it posts as. Press Check to test it again. The robot also checks every account once a day.
If it says needs you, see Troubleshooting: it is almost always a key to renew.