Do you use Instagram? if so, these 9 Instagram apps are worth downloading for your iPhone.
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Instagram apps — that is, apps made for Instagram — can take your Instagram presence to the next level. A friend of mine recently asked me what Instagram apps he ought to download for his iPhone. I thought about it, and decided to turn to my answer into a blog post.
A Brief History of the Instagram App
Instagram is one of the top 10 most popular mobile apps in the United States. Less than two years after the Instagram app launched, Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock. Instagram has continued to soar. In 2014, Instagram was the fastest growing major social network. More recently, Pew reports that Instagram is the second most used social media site among American teenagers (13-17), with more than half of all teens using the Instagram app.
Instagram Apps for Optimization
1. WhenToGram
WhenToGram shows you the three best times to post Instagram photos every day.
Instagram is a real-time feed of photos. To get the most amount of views (and like) per photo, you need to post on Instagram when the maximum number of your followers are browsing their feeds. Not only am I handling marketing and strategy for WhenToGram, I can tell you first hand that it really works. As I like to say, WhenToGram is the easiest way to get 11 likes. The app generates a heat map with details on when during the day is best to post to Instagram, based on when the largest amount of your followers are browsing their Instagram feeds. You can see each day of the week, and get hour-by-hour analysis by tapping on a specific day.
2. Unfollow on Instagram
Do you ever feel like you see less of your friends on your Instagram feed? It happens after you start following more and more people. Unfollow on Instagram is great tool clearing out the clutter. With it’s Tinder-like interface and UX, Unfollow on Instagram cues up the user, along with their last 4 photos. Like Tinder, you can swipe right to stay following them or left to unfollow them. My one complaint is it is a little slow (in comparison to other ‘swipe’ apps) when you do the swiping.
Stop following crap. Just swipe left for unfollowing. Yes, it’s that easy.
3. Analytics for Instagram
They say what gets measured gets managed. If you are serious about optimizing your Instagram presence, or just a fan of anything quantified, then Analytics for Instagram is worth the download. The free iOS app lets you monitor your Instagram followers, followings, and IG posts. I thought I would use this Instagram app more, but I am not in the business of growing my IG following. However, if I was a business owner, I would be on Analytics for Instagram this app regularly.
Instagram Apps for Videos
Instagram video is a big deal. These apps help your videos stand out, and are just generally a lot of fun to use. Two out of the three are official Instagram apps. The third is a paid app that I personally love.
4. Hyperlapse
Instagram debuted Hyperlapse on August 14th, 2014. The purpose of the Hyperlapse app is to give Instagram users a free tool to help them be more creative with their iPhone cameras. Being an early-adopter, I downloaded the app right away and began using it. Although it definitely has the ‘cool’ factor, Hyperlapse is more of a novelty than anything.
5. Boomerang
Create captivating mini videos that loop back and forth. Instagram introduced the Boomerang app on October 22nd, 2015:
It’s not a photo. It’s not a gif. It’s a Boomerang…a new video app that lets you turn everyday moments into something fun and unexpected.
Here is one of my first Boomerang videos. Thank you to Will for moving his arms!
6. VHS Camcorder
Want to make your videos look like your old home movies? VHS Cam is the app. It is the most expensive of all my favorite Instagram apps, and more expensive than a typical paid app ($3.99). However, $3.99 is cheap when you consider the advantages. First, downloading VHS Camcorder is much cheaper than buying a 1980s Cam off Ebay. Second, you don’t need to carry it around on your shoulder because it works on your iPhone. Finally, there’s no need to convert VHS tapes to digital files on your computer.
Request access to the Best iPhone Apps groupApps for Enhancing Your IG Photos
Instagram offers enough to make your photos look beautiful. I do not use many Instagram apps for photo editing, but these are some of the best.
When co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger Instagram in October 2010, the first goal they set to solve was making smartphone photos look beautiful.
We didn’t want to just build a cool app to look for a problem that people had…Number 1 was that mobile photos don’t look so great. We’ve all had that experience… you’re seeing the sunset, you take a snapshot, and it looks washed out, you can barely see the sun, etcetera. And we were like, ‘That’s the major problem we want to solve.’
8. Camera+
Camera+ is one of the first paid apps I ever purchased.
The app, which has grown over the years to reach 14 million users and $18 million in sales, has capitalized on Apple iPhone users’ demand for an expanded set of photography-related features that take advantage of the high-quality cameras found on their device (TechCrunch)
9. Word Swag
This is another one of my oldies, but goodies. Want to put some custom text on your photos? Word Swag is the app to download.
