The best Instagram apps are pretty magical. They have the power to transform how you look in photos and how you build your brand.
You can enhance your superstar beauty with a filter… or even test out a new eye color using an Instagram photo editor app. Yup, the world’s cheapest beauty salon fits in your pocket.
If you’re not obsessed with selfies, that’s cool. You can also run your business as if you were a team of 10… completely by yourself. There are video editing apps, Instagram scheduling apps, and other cool apps on Instagram for the casual and everyday business owner.
So, if you’re looking to give your Instagram account a complete makeover, these Instagram apps can be more life-changing than a yoga retreat in Bali.
The Best Instagram App: Instagram
The award for best Instagram app goes to… Instagram, of course! What’s not to love? There are 23 different free filters in the app itself allowing you to enhance your photo quick and easy.
Or you can edit your photos’ brightness, contrast, saturation, and more with only a few taps.
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You can add several images to one post allowing people to swipe to see more photos. You can like, comment on, or save posts from pages you follow. Instagram Stories allow you to share photos or videos with more visibility as they show up in a bubble at the top of your screen instead of the crowded Newsfeed. And if your Newsfeed has too many posts from a specific person or brand, you can mute those posts to see less from them.
Online retailers can benefit from shoppable posts which allow businesses to tag products in an Instagram post for easier selling. And it even has its own built-in analytics app for Instagram called Insights. Here you’ll find data about who your audience is, which days you get discovered and interacted with the most, and details about your content.
There are also a few free Instagram apps created by Instagram itself like Boomerang, Layout, and IGTV. Boomerang is one of the most popular free Instagram apps as it allows you to create loopable videos. Layout lets you you to turn your photos into collages. And with IGTV you can create long-form content on Instagram.
And let’s be honest, Instagram isn’t going away anytime soon so there’s likely going to be even more new features added overtime. It only gets better from here.
8 Best Instagram Apps in 2021
1. Repost
Repost is my faaaavorite Instagram app – I’ve actually been using it for years! When building up the audience for my pug store, this was my go-to app for reposting photos and videos that pug owners shared on Instagram. It’s one of the only two apps I’ve ever paid for (the other one is Sleep Cycle, in case you were wondering).
What makes Instagram tools like Repost spectacular is that they make sharing other people’s content easier than ever. Of course, you’ll still need to ask for permission before sharing someone’s content. But once you’ve got that go ahead, you can repost using this app without lowering image or video quality. And always remember to credit the original source.
This Instagram app was the biggest game-changer when it came to the success of my pug fan page. It allowed me to repost videos that went viral (and obviously videos of super cute pugs can be pretty awwwdorable). One of the first few videos I ever reposted ended up getting 52,863 views, 1,259 comments, and 9,116 likes (and I had fewer than 10k followers at the time).
It made me realize how powerful video marketing is. And since I didn’t have a pug or the resources to create my own videos — including, you know, a pug — reposting other people’s videos helped me get followers on Instagram.
2. Makeup & Beauty – Photo Editor – Photo Filter
When it comes to makeup, I always hire a makeup artist for special events. I’d do it myself but I always end up looking like a clown. No wonder my first attempt at using this Makeup & Beauty app turned out like this:
Okay, so apparently I can’t pull off alien eyes and pink blush…
But this Instagram photo editor app has some pretty cool features if you want to change up your appearance digitally. And you can make some natural beauty improvements when choosing how you want your makeup. Unless you’d rather goof off and look like a clown, of course. You’ll be able to add eyelashes, eye, lip and cheek color, slim your face and more. And you can also choose how dramatic you want your look within the Instagram filter app.
Fortunately, after sticking to more natural tones, I was able to look more lifelike. At least now you know I’m human!
The great thing about this Instagram app is that it’s free. But that obviously means there are a ton of ads. Even some of the app functions are just ads for other apps.
Still, there are a lot of cool features. You can do collages for photos you’ve taken, play around with stickers, add text, change ratios, and experiment with different frames, light, and textures.
This app can be glitchy with all the ads popping up on your screen every time you want to save an image. However, 10 million downloads proves that Makeup & Beauty is exactly what people want in an Instagram app: entertainment. It’s fun to play around with, especially if you love taking selfies. So if you feel like giving yourself a virtual makeover, this Instagram app is your best bet.
3. Canva
Canva is one of the most popular photo editor apps around. They have loads of templates in the exact dimensions for popular social sites. The best thing about Canva is the easy to use drag and drop design. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that it’s free (and no ads)! You can even buy stock photos for only $1, making it the cheapest platform for paid stock photos.
Canva is perfect for those who find Photoshop too complicated or too expensive. And with several templates to choose from, you can design your own Instagram graphics quite easily. For entrepreneurs, making graphics for upcoming promotions or sales events couldn’t be easier.
The graphic on the left is a template you can modify on Canva. The graphic on the right is modified with another graphic, different colors, and updated copy. Even the side by side collage was made in Canva. I spent less than three minutes making the designs in Canva. Have you ever done anything with Photoshop in three minutes? For a free Instagram app, Canva is essential in any entrepreneur’s toolbox.
4. Buffer
“You need to be consistent,” I’ve written in every article. Buffer is my go-to Instagram tool that helps automate Instagram posting.
Buffer acts as an Instagram app by allowing you to pre-write and schedule your Instagram posts in advance. And the app doesn’t have office hours – it’ll post for you at any time you’d like. So instead of constantly checking the time or forgetting to post on social media, all you need to do is find time to pre-write posts once a week or month. And hey, now you’ve got more time to watch Netflix marathons… I mean, work on your business.
A bonus perk about Buffer is that they have a free individual account that allows you to schedule up to 10 posts in advance. I pay for my annual subscription because I like scheduling more than 10 posts at a time, but you don’t have to. You can also connect other social platforms to your Buffer like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and LinkedIn. So you can really make sure you’re putting yourself and brand out there.
5. Captions for Instagram and Facebook Photos
It can be hard to come up with Instagram captions on your own. So it’s no surprise that there are Instagram apps that compile a list of Instagram captions. The Captions for Instagram and Facebook Photos app by JustApps has a long list of categories you’ll find captions for Beauty, Business, Couple, Selfie, Inspirational, Lyrics, Sassy, Travel and much more.
After picking a section, you can scroll through a long list of captions. When you find one you like, you can click to copy the caption and hashtags, and add them to your post on Instagram. Quick and easy! You can also choose to browse through the most popular captions if you’re just looking for some great options other people have used. Now, if only we could browse these captions directly in a scheduling app, posting on Instagram would be even easier. #daydreamer
6. Textgram
Need an Instagram app that’ll let you add text to your photos? Then you better check out Textgram. You can use the app to easily add text to your photos in a range of different fonts, colors, typographical emphasis, sizes, and other font features such as shadowing and reflection.
And while the focus of this Insta app is on text, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other cool features. Photo backgrounds, stickers, filters, and frames. So if you want to add an extra ounce of pizzazz to your photos, this app can help complete that picture perfect look.
Leetags is one of those cool Instagram apps that help you find hashtags. And picking the right hashtags helps you become more searchable. So if you’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to be popular, this Instagram app can help your Instagram posts take off.
The hashtags are categorized by various themes: animals, moods, most popular, nature, drinks, and more. So if you have a crossfit store, you can look at all 112 hashtags within that category and choose the ones that best fit your post.
After selecting the hashtags you want to use, you can copy and paste them into your Instagram post or comments. As your brand grows in popularity, you’ll start ranking higher in the hashtag results. When you first post your photo on Instagram, your post will appear under New for the hashtags you’ve entered. You’ll want to include 30 or fewer hashtags for each post for maximum results. The Instagram app won’t let you add more than 30.
8. Pixlr
So, Pixlr is another great Instagram photo editor app packed with more Photoshop-like tools but easier to use. If you’re familiar with Photoshop, you’ll recognize some of the features like blur, smooth, heal, and crop. You can also easily remove red eye from your photos.
Like other photo editor Instagram apps, you’ll find features like brighten, darken, add text, filters, and more. They also have a range of frames you can choose from.
I decided to play around with some of the tools, filters, and frames. Here’s the before and after:
When it comes to the number of features available, Pixlr is arguably the best Instagram photo editor app. Beyond photo editing, you can also create collages in this app pretty easily. If you’re looking for an app that has similar capabilities to Photoshop, this is your best bet. Even though this app is free, there aren’t an overwhelming number of ads, which makes fun to use.
Conclusion
Let’s cut to the chase: Instagram apps just make your life a whole lot easier. And if you’re taking photos or making videos with your phone, using a mobile app speeds up the the process of getting your work done.
So if you’re looking for Instagram tools that allow you to edit images (with no image editing experience) or slash your workload in half by automation or generating ideas for you, this list will give you that extra boost.
Feel free to play around on your app store to find other cool Instagram apps. Because there are a whole lot of them still waiting to be explored!
What do you look for in an @instagram app? https://t.co/aJvSztIdpY#instagram #socialmedia #ecommerce #dropshipping
— Nicole Martins Ferreira (@NicoleMarFer) September 17, 2018
