How to switch profiles on instagram desktop


How to Switch Instagram Accounts on Computer: It's Easy & Free!

Want to switch Instagram accounts on your computer?

Perhaps you’ve linked several accounts on your app, and you’re wondering where they are when you login on desktop.

No worries! It’s easy to manage multiple IG accounts on PC or Mac.

You don’t have to set up separate Chrome profiles – though we’ll cover that too.

You don’t need separate logins on different browsers.

You don’t need a third-party tool.

You can manage up to 5 IG accounts in one browser!

And I’ll also show you how to manage more than 5 without logging in and out.

Read on.

How to add multiple Instagram accounts on computer

First things first – whether you’ve already linked multiple Instagram accounts on mobile or not, you’ve got to add them on desktop.

Note: When adding accounts, you may be logged out of the first account. Be sure you have access to your login info and the device where you can receive a security code, or have backup codes handy.

1 | Go to Instagram.com on a browser and log into an account.

2 | Click on your profile picture at top right and choose Switch Accounts from the dropdown menu.

3 | Unless you see the account you want to switch to, choose Log Into Existing Account. The accounts I linked in the app on my iPhone didn’t show here – yet.

4 | Enter the login info for the account you want to add.

Check the box next to Save login info if you wish. Then click the blue Log In button.

If you don’t know your password, click Forgot Password? Remember that you’ll need the new password to get back into this account on any other devices, so make a note of it.

5 | You’ll be instantly logged into the account you added. I stayed on the same page (my personal account profile) but could see my business account’s Instagram profile picture in the upper right corner, meaning I was now logged in as this one.

How to switch Instagram accounts on computer

Once you’ve added at least one additional account via your browser, when you’re on the home feed you’ll see the account you’re logged into on the right side, with a blue link to Switch.

Click it to access the Switch Accounts popup.

Then click the account you want to switch to, or choose to add another account via the link at the bottom of the popup.

As I tried to switch back to my first account, I had to receive and enter a security code. Just a heads up that this may happen to you after adding another account!

As an option to clicking the Switch link in the home feed sidebar, you can also click Switch Accounts from the dropdown menu we used to add an account.

How can I manage more than 5 Instagram accounts?

There’s limit of 5 linked Instagram accounts, whether on a mobile device or computer.

But the computer has a big advantage!

If you manage more than 5 accounts, you can create a group of linked accounts on each of several different browsers. Then just switch browsers to access another group.

Or, you can set up as many profiles as you need in Chrome, and add up to 5 linked accounts to each. Again, switching is as easy as a couple clicks.

Details below.

Adding multiple Instagram accounts in Chrome

If you’re a Google Chrome user, there’s an easy way to have multiple groups of multiple accounts: People. And it’s free!

Or, you can use this to manage several IG accounts that you don’t want to link, in one browser (as long as the browser is Chrome 😉 ).

1 | Before you start, you might want to think about how many separate accounts, or groups of up to 5 accounts, you’ll need, and how to name them, so you know which group is which.

Let’s say you have an Insta account for each of your pets: 4 dogs, 3 horses, and 5 chickens. So you might decide to create 3 groups named: My Dogs. My Horses. My Chickens.

Or group your businesses or clients in a similar fashion 😉

2 | In the top corner of your Chrome browser, there’s a picture or icon of you. This represents your account.

Tap on this and some options appear for your account settings.

3 | At the bottom is Other People. If anyone else has a login saved on your Chrome, their picture will appear here.

At the bottom, there are two options: Guest and Add.

4 | Click the Add button and a screen opens.

Give the “person” a name. If you have more than one business that you don’t want linked, you can create a separate “person” named for each business. Or add a “person” named Clients to group several accounts you manage for others. Or however you decided to group the accounts you manage.

You can give the “person” an icon to help you spot which one is which.

5 | A new window will open as if you had never used Chrome before.

Now log into the Instagram account you want to be the basis for this separate “person.”

Chrome will ask you if you want to save the password – click Yes but don’t sync with other profiles.

Now to get into this other IG account without logging in and out, click your picture on Chrome and select the “person” you just made.

6 | In the one IG account you added to this “person,” you can add up to 4 more accounts so you can easily switch back and forth between multiple groups. Perfect for managing client accounts!

How to unlink an Instagram account

Accounts linked on the computer must be removed on the computer. If they were also linked on your mobile device, then you’ll need to remove them in the mobile app as well.

You can find all the details, with screenshots, here:

How to Remove an Instagram Account.

Conclusion

Now you know how to manage multiple Instagram accounts on desktop or laptop, PC or Mac!

Free, easy, fast solutions, even if you have more than 5 to deal with.

Ready to get even more efficient?

Check into IG-approved schedulers that automatically post to Instagram from computer.

Or learn how to grow your Instagram followers 11 ways!

How to Manage Multiple Instagram Accounts on Desktop - Blog

Updated: November 2. 2021

There’s no just no good way to log into multiple Instagram accounts at once on desktop, or to view those accounts side-by-side or switch between them quickly. If you’re sick and tired of having to log in and out of your different Instagram profiles on the web, downloading the Shift desktop app is the best solution to solve that problem for you! In this article, we will help you learn the best ways to link accounts and switch between multiple Instagram accounts on your desktop with Shift, and manage all of those accounts effectively.

When Instagram first came to be, it was difficult to navigate on desktop, especially with multi-accounts. It was built with only the mobile app in mind, and Instagram on your laptop was forgotten. Instagram has finally released the ability to post photos and videos from desktops. Although this may sound like a very basic feature, Instagram’s desktop functionality has historically lagged well behind what’s possible on its apps. Now in Shift you can have all your Instagram accounts in one place, and post straight to those accounts hassle free.

The problem with multiple Instagram accounts

Switching between multiple accounts on Instagram can be a headache, but if you want to scale your business, run a side hustle, or add a personal account, it becomes necessary. Instagram does not make it easy to link accounts, access all profiles, and switch between a second, third, or even fourth account.

On Instagram, users can 

  • View and comment on images shared by other users.
  • Send direct messages to other accounts. 
  • Follow users to stay up to date on posts. 
  • Track your likes, shares, saves, and comments on a business account.

But, unfortunately, Instagram has yet to master the art of switching between and managing multiple accounts.  

Here’s the trick: Use a third-party app to manage multiple accounts from the same interface (aka Shift!)

Who needs to manage multiple Instagram accounts?

You might have more than one Instagram account if you not only have a personal account, but also one for a hobby, website, or side hustle. Nowadays anyone managing an Instagram profile professionally likely has more than one linked account. Whether you have a personal account, and a brand account or you manage multiple accounts as an influencer or agency, you're likely running two or more accounts. Luckily, you can manage multiple accounts directly in the Shift desktop app. While Instagram doesn't have an official desktop app or an elegant solution for managing multiple accounts, Shift allows you to work with as many Instagram accounts as you like on your PC, Mac or Linux desktop computer. Workspaces in Shift also allows you to easily manage multiple Instagram accounts along with all of your other social media apps. Workspaces makes it easy to groups together all your apps, including Instagram, according to what they're used for. That way you can have Workspaces for social media for business, personal, and side hustle, for example.

Related Post: How to Manage All Your Social Media Accounts in One Place

How to log into Instagram accounts on desktop

Shift is no stranger to the coolest applications, and Instagram is definitely one of our users' favorite apps. It’s the best social media app for sharing and viewing photos and short videos. Our most active users are managing several Instagram accounts in Shift without the hassle of logging in and out since you can stay logged into multiple accounts at once and easily switch between them.

Here is how to add Instagram to your deck of apps in Shift:

1. Go to Add Application [+]
2. Search for Instagram
3. Click the + in the top right-hand corner to install it
4. Enter an account name and choose a color
5. Login using your Instagram account or Facebook

Can I have two accounts on Instagram? 

You can now have up to 5 IG accounts linked together and logged in at once. If you want to add more than five accounts, you can do so, but you’ll have to log in and out to access additional profiles. Every account must have its own email address, so you can’t create multiple accounts from the same email. 

To add an additional account to your Instagram, follow these steps:

  1. Open Instagram on your phone or in Shift.
  2. Click on the icon of your profile photo at the bottom-right of the screen.
  3. Click on your account name.
  4. Select Add Account
  5. Select Create New Account.
  6. Create a username and password.
  7. You’re all set!

How to add a second Instagram account on desktop

You can add a second Instagram account to your desktop, but keep in mind that you cannot post pictures from your computer. Follow these steps to add a second Instagram account on desktop. 

  1. Tap the profile icon in the bottom right or click on your profile picture. 
  2. Click on the 3 bars in the top right and then click on settings. 
  3. Scroll to the bottom and click ‘add account.’
  4. Tap login.

How to switch between Instagram accounts on computer

Switching between your Instagram accounts on your computer simple with Shift. Once you've added your Instagram accounts to Shift, they will show on the left-hand sidebar. All you need to do to switch between them is click on the icon and that account will take over the main window. This makes switching between Instagram accounts on your desktop PC or laptop a breeze compared to logging in and out of accounts in a browser. It’s also easier than switching between Instagram accounts on the mobile app where you have to switch within the app itself, and can’t actually view more than one of your multiple accounts side-by-side, like you can on your computer with the Shift desktop app.

Related Video: How to Manage Multiple Instagram Accounts on Desktop

How to manage multiple Instagram accounts on desktop with Shift

The best part about using Instagram in Shift is how simple it is to manage multiple Instagram accounts. It’s easy to add more than one Instagram account to Shift. To log into more than one account, all you need to do is repeat the above steps for each of the accounts.

1. Click on the add application icon [+]
2. Search for Instagram (there should be a green check mark since you've already signed in once)
3. Click + to install it
4. Enter your account name and choose a color for it
5. Login using a different Instagram account or Facebook

Tip: Choosing a different color and setting a different name for each account will help you to distinguish between them if you're using the compact layout.

You can repeat these steps as many times as you like to get all of the Instagram accounts you manage in one place. Now, you’re all set to manage multiple Instagram accounts in Shift!

How to manage multiple Instagram accounts with Workspaces

With Workspaces in Shift, you can easily manage and switch between multiple Instagram accounts, as well as multiple other social media accounts. Workspaces are dedicated, and fully customizable, spaces for your most important work within Shift. You can add apps, tabs, and bookmarks directly within a Workspace. If you manage multiple Instagram accounts as a social media manager, for example, you can put each Instagram account into its own Workspace. You can also keep all of the social media accounts that you manage for each client together in one Workspace including Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, and TikTok. Another great addition to your Workspace are apps that you use to schedule and manage social media posts, such as Later and Buffer. You’ll even stay logged into all of the social media accounts and management tools within a Workspace so you won’t have to worry about logging in and out of any accounts. It’s so much easier to have all of your social media apps grouped together in a Workspace so you aren’t searching through the sidebar looking for the right Instagram account.

Can you switch between multiple Instagram accounts on Chrome? 

Unfortunately, there’s no simple way to switch between Instagram accounts on chrome. The easiest way to switch between Instagram accounts in your browser is to use Shift and aggregate multiple accounts in the sidebar. There are various functions to make switching to another account simple and save you the hassle of logging in and out.

  • Customize the name of your account
  • Color code your profiles so you can easily differentiate between them
  • Eliminate the hassle of logging in and out of different accounts
  • Create a workspace for each Instagram profile
  • Monitor engagement rates, link clicks, and scale your business

Tip: Save your passwords! Move all passwords from Chrome into your Shift account with the click of a button and never worry about logging in and out again. Store all of your Instagram passwords in Shifts' secure vault and start managing additional profiles efficiently. 

How to upload to Instagram from desktop

Instagram has rolled out the new feature of allowing users to post from their desktop. You can share a photo, video or reel right from your desktop just as you would on the app. This can be done by clicking on the “+” button in the top right corner of the webpage. It will prompt you to select photos from your computer and then filters, captions, and location tags can be added. 

How to get the Instagram app on desktop (Mac & PC)

As you have gathered, accessing multiple IG profiles on desktop can be a real pain and the best way to get around this is using a third-party app. You can get the Instagram app (or multiple instagram apps) using Shift. Shift is supported on both Mac and PC, which means you can organize your multi-accounts with ease.

Use the following guide to add an Instagram account to Shift:

  1. Go to Add Application [+]
  2. Search for Instagram
  3. Click the + in the top right-hand corner to install it
  4. Enter an account name and choose a color
  5. Login using your Instagram account or Facebook

Tip: Easily toggle between Instagram accounts in Shift by adding multiple IG apps to your side bar and customizing your preferences to differentiate between them.

How to use social media management tools for Instagram

If you manage multiple Instagram accounts, chances are you also use social media management tools to schedule and analyze those Instagram accounts. With Shift, you can download all of the best social media management tools and keep them in one place. If you use multiple different tools such as Later, and Buffer then you can use Shift to keep all of those apps organized on your desktop. These tools allow you to schedule Instagram posts which makes it easier to manage multiple accounts.  You can not only schedule posts with these tools, but you can also analyze data to track the engagement of your posts. Analyzing engagement is crucial for taking the management of multiple Instagram accounts to the next level. If you’re taking advantage of the right tools to analyze engagement, you won’t waste your time on Instagram Stories, posts, and IGTV videos that just aren’t performing. And with Shift, that analysis can happen right on your desktop instead of having to use the mobile apps. Who wants to have to view charts and graphs on a tiny phone screen rather than on a desktop monitor, right?

Related Post: The 10 Best Tools for Social Media Management

Instagram on desktop vs mobile

There are a lot of advantages to using Instagram on your desktop instead of with the mobile app. Since photos are displayed in a much larger size on your desktop, it’s easier to make sure all of the photos on your account are of top-notch quality. It’s also easier to access photos, Stories, and IGTV on other profiles on desktop rather than on mobile. You can post to Instagram directly within Shift by opening the Instagram app and clicking on the “+” button on  the top right corner of the webpage. It will prompt you to select photos from your computer and then filters, captions, and location tags can be added. It’s even easier than using the mobile version of apps since you can view the photos you’re posting at a much larger size and higher quality on your desktop monitor. Writing captions is also easier on desktop since you can use a full-sized keyboard and the best editing browser extensions, like Grammarly which is built right into Shift. While using Instagram on mobile is useful on occasion due to the portability phone, ultimately the best Instagram experience is on desktop using Shift.

Ready to manage multiple Instagram accounts better?

Shift is the easiest way to manage multiple Instagram accounts on desktop. It’s also the best way to manage all of your social media apps, and social media management tools, in one place.

Download Shift today to manage Instagram, Gmail, Facebook, WhatsApp, Slack, Trello, and thousands of your other favorite tools in one easy to use desktop app.

How to transfer a personal profile to a business account and vice versa

Author comhub Views 14.2k. Posted by Updated by

Since the announcement of business accounts in 2016, brands have been asking, “Should I switch to an Instagram Business Profile or keep it as a personal account?”

For many organizations, converting their accounts was a simple decision. In fact, there are currently over 25 million business profiles. However, some brands are on the fence because they are concerned about how this will affect their profile and whether they will see a drop in activity after the switch.

However, all evidence suggests that switching to a business account will only help you. Having access to analytics and other features not available to personal accounts all have an advantage. So it's no surprise why Instagram is pushing brands to transition.

In this article, we'll talk about the benefits of switching to an Instagram business profile and show you how to switch your profile if you're currently using a personal account.

What is the difference between a personal and business Instagram account?

The main difference between an Instagram business profile and a personal account is access to features such as Instagram Insights (account analytics), contact information, Instagram ads, and more.

Before Instagram business profiles became a "thing", brands relied on tactics like packing a bio of all their contact information or guessing who their target audience is. But when you switch to a business profile, that's all taken care of.

Think of your Instagram business profile as an "extended" version of your personal profile. Of course, you can technically manage your brand's Instagram account with a personal profile. But why limit yourself when you can switch to a business profile in seconds and get so much more?

With that said, let's see how to actually make the change.

How to switch to an Instagram business account

Here's how to switch to an Instagram business profile:

  1. Click profile icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, then click the menu icon in the top right corner.
  2. Click the Settings gear icon in the lower right corner of the drawer to access your settings.
  3. Go to the " Account " section.
  4. Click " Switch to business account ".
  5. Instagram will prompt you to connect to a Facebook business page (note: you need to have admin access to a Facebook page to convert to an Instagram business profile). Can be skipped.
  6. Select a category for your profile / business.
  7. Fill in your contact details (email address, phone number and address). You need to complete at least one of them.
  8. That's all there is to it! Instagram also has a video walkthrough that will show you the process step by step.

How to switch back from a business account to a personal account

If for some reason you switch from an Instagram Business Profile back to a personal account, it's also easy to do.

  1. Click profile icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, then click the menu icon in the top right corner.
  2. Click the Settings gear icon in the lower right corner of the drawer to access your settings.
  3. In the " Account " section, click "Switch back to personal account".
  4. Instagram will prompt you to make sure you want to go to your personal account. Click "Switch" to confirm.

Please note that you can always return to your business profile. However, we highly recommend sticking with a business profile if you are a brand.

Now that you know how to switch, we'll look at some of the benefits of using an Instagram Business Profile.

Benefits of an Instagram Business Profile

As we mentioned, some people are a little hesitant about switching to a business profile. But the benefits are hard to ignore. Seriously, check out these six benefits on an Instagram Business Profile:

  1. Access to Instagram analytics. This is probably the number one reason why brands are moving to the Instagram Business Profile. If you're currently using a personal account, chances are you don't have much data on how your Instagram posts or stories are performing. At best, you're probably just manually tracking the number of likes and comments your content gets.
    However, when you switch to a business profile, you get access to Instagram Insights. It's Instagram's native analytics platform that gives you data on engagement, impressions, audience demographics, and more.
  2. Run an ad on Instagram. Advertising is about getting your message across to the target audience, wherever they are. Instagram is putting a lot of emphasis on this right now, which explains why brands are seeing such great success with Instagram ads. In fact, Instagram ad revenue is expected to reach nearly $7 billion in 2018, up from $3.6 billion in 2017. With numbers like never before, it makes sense to start showing ads on Instagram. The first step is to switch to a business profile, since Instagram ads are not available for personal accounts.
  3. Publish photos from a computer. Earlier this year, Instagram announced that their API would allow users to post photos from their desktop through some third-party platforms. Sprout Social is one such partner, which means you can post content directly from Sprout to your Instagram page if you've converted your profile from personal to business. This is a huge time saver and efficiency boost for brands. You no longer have to rely on notifications to remind you to post on Instagram or have your phone handy. Also, if you use desktop software to create or edit photos before posting to Instagram, you don't have to worry about downloading the edited version to your phone. Just sign in to Sprout, upload an image, write a caption, and hit submit. So if you've been looking for a way to post to Instagram from your desktop, the wait is over. Switch to a business profile and use Sprout to post directly from your computer.
  4. More profile information. Another benefit of Instagram business accounts is that you get a few extra features on your profile page. For example, contact buttons so that people can easily contact your brand without having to look up a support phone number or email address. This means that when your customers have problems with your company, the first place they lead is social media, and not your site. You need to make it as easy as possible for people to contact you about potential issues so that your comments aren't filled with angry customers. Adding an email message or call button to your profile can go a long way in resolving customer support issues outside of your feed. Instagram.

If the article was helpful to you, you can also help us

How to create an Instagram creator account

What is an Instagram creator account?

When Instagram appeared, all users had the same personal accounts. As the platform has evolved, Instagram has made it possible to select business profiles to open up greater access to tools such as stats, a profile action button, and improved direct messaging features.

Big brands and influencers needed more information about their audience. As a result, Instagram introduced a creator account, we will call it the “author account”.

This account type is currently only limited to profiles with more than 10,000 followers that are also connected to a Facebook business page.

How to switch to a creator account on Instagram

Switching from a personal account or business profile to a creator account is easy. To convert, open your Instagram profile and click the three-line button in the top right corner.

Then tap the Settings icon at the bottom of the screen.

In the "Settings" menu, select "Account", and then click on "Switch to Author Account".

The installation process will take you through several screens to confirm the features of your author account, select a category, and enable/disable contact options.

Once completed, your author account is ready!

You will immediately see statistics and new features of direct messages. In addition, there will be no negative impact on the algorithm or reach when switching to an author profile. Now let's look at four significant differences that distinguish an Instagram creator account from a business account.

#1: Instagram Creator Accounts Provide More Detailed Follower Growth Statistics

Extended statistics is a reason to consider switching to a Creator account. If you have detailed information about the growth and decline of audience attention, you will understand what factors affect the change in the audience. Now the owners of business profiles see only an increase / decrease in the audience week after week. The author's account monitors the slightest fluctuations every day.

If your author account experienced a significant spike or loss of followers, you can determine which days it happened and link the fluctuation in interest to the posts and content you posted during that time.

If you select a day in the Growth graph and click View Posts (above the graph), you'll see all the stories and posts shared that day.

This information will help you determine what content and how it affects followers. Apart from this new dataset, there is no difference in Instagram statistics for creator accounts.

No. 2. Filtering of incoming messages has been added to the author profile

Business profiles have one Inbox folder and a Requests tab for messages potentially related to spam. There are two additional folders in Creator's Direct called "Main" and "Public".

The purpose of adding new tabs is clear: if a blogger receives a huge number of incoming messages, he, of course, wants to segment them. So an important message will not be lost in the incoming stream. In the "Basic" tab, you can leave the most important, and move the rest of the messages to the "General" folder. And new messages will still be in "Requests for Correspondence".

For example, messages from your friends, family members, brand partners and colleagues may be prioritized over messages from followers you don't know personally or who are contacting for the first time. When you first switch to an author account, all of your existing posts remain in the Basic folder.

Also, if you go to the General tab, you will notice that notifications for this tab are disabled, regardless of whether notifications for direct messages are enabled. You can easily enable these notifications by going to your inbox settings.

When accessing existing messages, you can easily move individual messages between the tabs of your inbox - from "Main" to "General" and vice versa.

However, if you have a lot of messages, it will take some time to move them between tabs. It might be easier to leave the posts as they are on the Main tab and sort out the new content later on in the appropriate tabs.

Similarly, when you receive a request message and resolve it, you have a choice of which tab to move it to.

No. 3. Instagram author profiles can display category and contact information.

In the author's profile, new categories are available for you to choose from.

Most of these categories are more in line with the activities of people who actively develop a personal brand. Choose the category that suits you to show your audience what you're doing.

In addition to the new category options, author accounts can have contact information enabled or disabled.

Business profiles automatically show email and contact information, but contributor accounts can disable this feature. If you don't want to receive unwanted emails or cold calls from various companies or individuals, disabling these contact details can be helpful. Choose whether you want to be contacted quickly or if it bothers you.

The disadvantage of creator accounts is that you don't have the ability to enable additional action buttons such as "Book now", "Reserve" and other options available for business profiles. If users regularly use these action buttons for your brand, you may want to reconsider switching to a creator account.

No. 4. Instagram creator accounts have desktop access to analytics with Creator Studio

Creators get free access to Instagram Creator Studio.

The service can be activated from the desktop using the link

This is the same Instagram account statistics, but you can view it from a computer on Facebook.

The information is no different than what you see in the Statistics app, but it gives you access to everything on your desktop without requiring a third party tool.

Read Help

When you open Creator Studio on your desktop, you can connect your Facebook profile, related Facebook pages, and your Instagram account. When you sign in, Creator Studio uses the Facebook page by default, but you can click the Instagram icon at the top of the page to connect to your Instagram profile.

By connecting to your Instagram profile, you will see all the information about your posts. You can sort information by all content types or by specific content types: videos, photos, carousels, stories, and IGTV.

In the Content Library, you can view basic information about your individual posts, including likes and comments, and the posting date. If you go to the Stories tab, you will see the reach data of each of them on Instagram.

You can also rely on the Content Library to sort content by date range, or use the search navigation bar to find specific content related to any keyword or phrase.

The "Statistics" tab in the left menu of the sidebar contains two subpages - "Activity" and "Audience". The Activity tab displays all of your website visits, reactions to your CTAs and profile visits, and your profile's reach over the past week. As with Instagram app analytics, all of this data is only available for the last 7 days.

The Audience Insights tab provides the same data that you would see in your views in the Instagram app. In addition, it provides information about the demographics and age characteristics of your audience, as well as when they are most active on the platform.

No. 5. Creator Instagram accounts can create shopping posts with partner brands

One of the biggest incentives for brands and influencers to switch to an author account is the ability to create shopping posts with brands they love.

Creators can tag the products of the brands they partner with by creating posts where their followers can immediately buy the product. This feature is currently available to a small select group of influential bloggers. As the program expands, more authors are expected to have access to this feature. This will benefit both creators and brands to increase sales.

Conclusion

In addition to a few mostly new features for contributor accounts, there are also some drawbacks to be aware of.

Author accounts do not have an API connection for third party tools. The Instagram API only supports business profiles for third-party tools. This means that any planning tools, analytical tools, or other applications still require a business profile connection. If you switch to an author account, you will lose this ability and will no longer be able to rely on scheduling tools and automatic publishing or the content authoring panel to publish content from your desktop.

You will have to post all your posts from the Instagram app itself and post them immediately. Even if Instagram opens the API for creator accounts, additional services will still need to recode their applications to accept and process these additional account formats. There is no guarantee that all tools will include Instagram creator accounts in their support.

Also be aware that Creator Studio does not post to Instagram. Creator Studio is a nice feature for accessing Instagram stats from the desktop. But it still doesn't support posting content to Instagram. By losing the functionality of the dashboard management tool, you won't be able to post to Instagram from your desktop.

Should I switch to an author account?

To be honest, an author account is probably not that valuable to most influencers and brands at the moment. Some will see value in the added stats capabilities. And while those looking to upgrade to a Creator account don't rely on scheduling tools or third-party apps, they'll see the benefits of this new account option. However, most companies will not see enough value in the author format to try out the new kind of account.

In addition, author accounts will likely only remain available to those who have crossed the threshold of 10,000 subscribers or more.


Learn more