Instagram begins blocking third-party Windows Phone app uploads

Microsoft has promised Windows Phone 8 users that popular apps like Vine, Flipboard, Path, and Hipstamatic are coming to the platform but one of the most popular apps is still missing: Instagram. Currently, there are third-party Windows Phone apps that have the ability to upload to your Instagram account but now there’s news that they’re being blocked by Instagram.

Daniel Gary, developer of the app Instance, reported on Twitter that the app was seeing photos blocked and deleted seconds after being uploaded. Turns out Instagram implemented a new API to “fight spam to help prevent future attacks and increase security,” according to an Instagram spokesperson.

Gary goes on to say, “It’s their servers, their service. What I was doing was not approved by them and was using their private API.” He doesn’t blame Facebook for blocking third-party apps since he was using their API in an unapproved way.

There's no need in being mad at Instagram. It's their service and they have very right to hold the keys. I'm just trying to pick the lock 🙂

— Daniel Gary (@danielgary) July 30, 2013

Other third-party Instagram apps like 6tagram are also reporting having issues with uploading to the service. At the time of this writing, photos are still being removed after they’re sent to Instagram. Links for the photos show up briefly, only to be taken down so that those links show a “Not Found” error.

UPDATE (August 1st, 2013 10:00AM PDT):

Instagram is tweaking its spam filtering, which affected third-party Windows Phone Instagram apps. For now, these unofficial apps will work, but there will always be a risk of relying on unofficial apps. Instagram has no plans to bring the app to Windows Phone so users will have to settle with the uncertainty of using third-party apps.

Source: Daniel Gary (Twitter) | The Verge