PSA: Posting to Instagram from the Flickr App Destroys Photo Quality

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Here’s a quick PSA for those of you who have a mobile workflow that involves posting to Instagram from the Flickr app. Don’t. For some reason, sharing from Flickr to Instagram on your phone absolutely destroys photo quality, leaving you with a pixely mess.

We were told of this issue by PetaPixel reader Keiron Brand, who uses Flickr as an easy way to get his DSLR photos onto Instagram. Since IG still doesn’t allow Web upload, he would simply upload to Flickr, and then use the Flickr app on his phone to post the same photos to Instagram. There was just one issue…

Here’s a look at one recently posted shot. On the left, Flickr app to Instagram app. On the right, Flickr app to phone at high res, then to Instagram:

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The difference is stark. So consider this your public service announcement: if you use the Flickr app as your workaround Web uploader for Instagram, save the photo to your phone first at high-res, then post to Instagram.

Keiron is using an Android phone, so we’d love to hear from some of you iPhone users. Are you experiencing the same issue? Have you found an easier workaround than Keiron? Let us know in the comments.


Image credits: Photographs by Keiron Brand and used with permission.

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