Have you ever wondered, “why won’t Instagram let me post?” If so, the following article may be able to help. You could be attempting to make a status update or picture upload, and it tells you that your media is too big. Or perhaps the dreaded white screen of death has appeared telling you there was an error uploading your content.
If Instagram prevents a user from posting, then ensure the image is compatible with the app. If so, then wait before attempting to post. One may need to remove the tags associated with the image if they are too numerous or overused. Alternatively, restarting the app may help.
Regardless of which problem you face, several solutions can trick you into getting around these pesky minor problems. The first thing to check is if your account is old enough to post each media piece at hand. For instance, I found one student who had posted their entire senior year portfolio but her account wasn’t set up correctly, so she couldn’t share any of them with people.
Ten solutions to common posting problems
## Possible Solution #1: Change Your Privacy Setting to Public
One possible solution is to check your privacy setting. If you have it set too private, it will not let you post all of your content. To check this:
- Go into the Instagram app on your phone.
- Click on the gear so you can access the settings for your profile.
- Scroll down until you see “privacy” and tap on that option.
- On this page change the option from “private” to “public.”
- Try posting again.
## Possible Solution #2: Clean Up Your Account
If changing your privacy settings doesn’t work, then there’s probably something wrong with your account that needs to be fixed (other than age). Perhaps many spam or old pictures clutter up your feed and make it too big. If this is the case, you can try cleaning up your account by:
To unfollow someone goes into their profile with the Instagram app. Then tap on their profile picture in the middle above all the pictures. Next, scroll down to where it says “following.” There should be a button there labeled as following with an arrow attached to it ( ). To delete a picture, tap and hold on to the picture and then click “delete” (for iPhone users). Tap on this button as if you want to follow them again. However, instead of following them another window pops up asking you why you want to unfollow them. Tap on the “delete” button in this pop-up.
## Possible Solution #3: Delete your account and start over
If nothing else is working you may have to delete your Instagram account (temporarily) and then recreate it with a fresh new start. To do this, go into your settings on your phone, then tap “reset.” Follow the directions in the pop-up window telling you to log out of your current Instagram account. After logging outgo in again through the app store for Android or iOS (Apple). Then download Instagram again. This time create an original username that hasn’t already been taken by someone else. You can try using initials like I did but you might have difficulty when attempting to use certain characters like @.
After creating a new account, you can either try to recreate your old account or start fresh. If not, I would recommend re-downloading the app one more time and starting over again! However it should work much better after following the steps above.
## Possible Solution #4: Report the problem to Instagram
Another way to resolve issues is to report them. There are three different ways you can do this with the app itself. The first option that I have found is when your media uploads but then tells you an error. Try uploading again and then tap on “report a problem” at the top right of your screen if this happens.
This will send you directly to the proper customer service center to investigate why it didn’t work. Another location in which you can report problems with media is when nothing loads on your phone when trying to load your feed or make an update. To do this, go into your profile either through your account page in settings or by opening up the app. Then scroll to the top where your profile picture is and tap on it (if you’re using an iPhone).
Once there, scroll over the line that reads “Edit Profile,” then click on “more” to open up another window. After that, select “Report a Problem.” If neither of these options works for you, try clicking on your username at the top right of any page on Instagram. This will take you to your account page, like opening an external browser or checking out other people’s profiles.
On this page there should be three buttons across the very bottom labeled as follows: home, notifications, and search. There should be “report a problem” underneath the search” written in blue with little gears next to it. Click here and follow the directions from above to report a problem with Instagram. Then again, when you get to the customer service screen it should ask if your problem is spam, an unauthorized picture, or something related upon logging in.
## Possible Solution #5: Delete existing photos
If all else fails try deleting old pictures from Instagram entirely by going into your profile and clicking “edit” under your profile picture. This will open up a menu where you can change your profile information, add a website link, delete any posts you want going, etc. Go down to where it says “posts,” then tap on “photos.”
After tapping on photos, click “remove” next to any photo. You don’t want to be left behind anymore. This will get rid of it and free up storage space on your device. If you’re backed up and need more room I recommend using Clean Master to clean out any unnecessary files that may be weighing your phone down (like pictures and files that you don’t recognize and aren’t sure what they are).
## Possible Solution #6: Log out and sign back in again to Instagram
I’m sure that most of us have been there before. You start messing with something on your phone or tablet, or maybe someone else is messing with it, and suddenly you can’t access the Internet from somewhere else. When this happens I have found at least one way around it each time that always ends up working great! To do this first go into settings by opening the app then going into the “more” button below your profile picture.
It should be a square with three little lines going across it followed by other options which include things like stories, notifications, etcetera. Clicking on “more” will bring up a lot of extra information if you’re unfamiliar with how it works. Look for “information” and you should see a gear icon next to it.
Tapping on this will bring up your options menu where you can toggle things like never-ending video, automatic album creation, and so forth. Scroll down until you find the button that says “Log Out.” Pressing this will take you back to Instagram’s main page, where all your information has been reset. Afterward, try logging in again as if you were doing so for the first time ever before reading this article.
This method may fix most problems within the app, such as editing certain settings or deleting pictures that would otherwise be impossible to do without causing irreparable damage to the account itself. If nothing else seems to work, you now know what to do in case Instagram ever goes down for an extended period.
## Possible Solution #7: Restart your app and log back into it
Sometimes we don’t realize how much our devices need a restart until they stop working properly and refuse to respond as they should. When this happens, reboot your phone and see if that helps with any issues you may be having. If it doesn’t, then don’t worry because there are still plenty more options available! After rebooting my device, some problems I have encountered include being unable to post or access certain features within Instagram.
To fix these issues go back into settings by opening the app again then going into “more” below your profile picture. This should bring up a menu like the first one we looked at where you can toggle between things like your profile and other information. Now tap on “information,” and it should bring up another menu with buttons for things such as your username, bio, website link, etcetera.
Tap on username or bio whichever you prefer to edit and then type in something completely new such as @the_real_instagram. This will force Instagram to generate a new username so that it can be different than before saving the trouble of logging out and back into the app again!
## Possible Solution #8: Restart your device and log back into Instagram
After getting frustrated with the previous solution because nothing seems to work there is always option #8 which doesn’t take long to set up. Reboot your phone yet again and then open the Instagram app while logging in with the new username we just created after restarting. I should also mention that it’s important to do this right away before running into other issues such as being unable to post or access certain functions within Instagram.
After you’ve logged back in it may be a good time to upload any pictures you were previously taking so they don’t get deleted if something happens during the process within the app itself. If nothing else has worked for what seems like an eternity, try out these popular fixes which seem to work best for everything from posting problems, sign performance, and other glitches.
## Possible Solution #9: Take a break and let your device cool down.
Sometimes people are so desperate to make Instagram work again that they forget about basic problems such as overheating. If it seems like your phone or tablet is running hotter than usual then you have to take a break and give it time to cool off. Doing so will save you the trouble of dealing with weird glitches that come out of nowhere!
Make sure to let your device completely cool down before continuing by doing things like logging into Instagram . This should fix any issues related to posting, editing, deleting pictures, etcetera provided the problem wasn’t due to something more serious such as an app being shut down for making too many requests within a short period.
## Possible Solution #10: Restart your Wi-Fi router (if applicable)
If there’s one thing I learned over the years, our routers are the most important part of our home network. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to connect our devices for easy file sharing, streaming movies online, or any other connectivity essential to everyday life. If none of these solutions have worked but are still having issues posting on Instagram, try restarting your router just as you would your device! This will refresh the connection between all your devices and hopefully fix whatever problems were previously preventing you from posting successfully.
Conclusion
If nothing else has seemed to work after following these steps I want you to know that it’s perfectly okay because there may not always be an answer for everything. When things don’t go according to plan it’s important to learn how to accept the reality of the situation and move on. Maybe this is because I’m a little too optimistic about these kinds of things. Still, hopefully one day Instagram will do something about these persistent issues to make it easier for users to post without dealing with so much frustration.
If you have any other questions about Instagram or want to share your personal experiences feel free to comment below! I’d love to hear what you think. *Please note that these are all my opinions and observations based on personal experience with Instagram itself. I can’t guarantee anything will work for sure but these are things I’ve tried in the past when dealing with this kind of problem.