How do I connect Instagram to Visualist?

With Instagram connected, you can link your posts into a Hub and post images from Visualist to your Instagram account. This article covers connecting Instagram, linking posts, posting, what Vai learns from your account, and removing the integration and your data.

Before you start

You need a Visualist Core or Growth plan and an Instagram Business or Creator account. Meta doesn’t let apps use personal accounts.

To switch a personal account, open the Instagram app, go to Settings > Account type and tools, and tap Switch to professional account. A Creator account suits most individuals.

Connect Instagram

1. Open Integrations. Open Account settings and go to Integrations.
2. Connect Instagram. On the Instagram card, click Connect Instagram.
3. Sign in through Meta. On Meta’s Log into business tools from Meta screen, choose Continue with Instagram or Continue with Facebook.
4. Choose your account. Pick a business portfolio and your Instagram account. If your Instagram account isn’t in a business portfolio yet, Meta creates one for it.
5. Allow access. Review the permissions and agree to the Meta Business Tools Terms. You return to Integrations, where the card shows Connected and your Instagram username.

Visualist asks Meta for two permissions: read your Instagram profile and posts, and create posts. It doesn’t ask for your messages, comments, ads, or insights.

You can also connect Instagram from a Hub’s Instagram folder, or from the optional Instagram step when you first set up Visualist.

Link Instagram posts into a Hub

1. Open the Instagram folder. Open the Hub, go to Hub Library, and open the Instagram folder.
2. Choose posts. Click Link from Instagram, select the posts you want, and click Link. The button shows how many posts you selected.

You need edit access to the Hub to link posts. Posts you link are shared with the Hub and stay on Instagram. Hub members who have connected their own Instagram account see them in the Instagram folder, read live from Instagram through your connection. To open a post on Instagram, click it or choose Open in Instagram from its menu.

Only you can unlink the posts you linked. Open the post’s menu and click Unlink from Hub.

Post to Instagram from Visualist

1. Select your images. In your Library or a Hub, select one image, or up to 20 for a carousel. The carousel follows the order you selected them in.
2. Open Post to Instagram. In the toolbar that appears, click Post to Instagram.
3. Write a caption. In Caption, write up to 2,200 characters and 30 hashtags. The counter below the field shows how many you’ve used.
4. Post. Click Post to Instagram. When it’s done, click View on Instagram to see the post.

You can post images and products. Videos, Reels, designs, and notes can’t be posted from Visualist. Visualist converts each image to JPEG, and Instagram crops it to between 4

and 1.91. Posting usually takes under a minute and continues if you close the sheet.

Limits

• Only Instagram Business and Creator accounts can connect.
• A carousel can have up to 20 images.
• A caption can have up to 2,200 characters and 30 hashtags.
• Instagram lets apps publish up to 100 posts per account in 24 hours.

What Vai learns from Instagram

The first time you connect Instagram, Visualist reads your most recent posts (up to 30 captions and up to 16 images). It sends them once to OpenAI to build your Vai profile: your visual style and how you write. Visualist keeps the resulting profile and doesn’t store the posts. To review the profile, see How do I teach Vai about me?

What Visualist stores

For your connection, Visualist stores your Instagram account ID, username, Meta business portfolio ID, the permissions you granted, and the access token Meta issues, encrypted.

Visualist reads your posts from Instagram when you browse them or open a Hub. For posts you link into a Hub, it keeps the post ID, caption, type, link, and a cover image URL so the Hub can list them. For posts you publish, it keeps the caption, the Visualist images you used, and the link to the Instagram post. While a post is publishing, its images are stored briefly at a temporary link that Instagram fetches them from, then deleted.

Remove the Instagram integration and delete your data

You can remove the integration from Visualist or from Meta.

Disconnect in Visualist

1. Open Integrations. Open Account settings and go to Integrations.
2. Disconnect Instagram. On the Instagram card, click Disconnect.

Visualist deletes the stored access token and your Instagram account details, and removes the posts you linked into Hubs.

Remove Visualist in Meta

1. Open your connected apps. In Meta Business Suite, open Settings and go to Integrations > Connected apps.
2. Remove Visualist. Find Visualist and remove it.

Visualist’s access to your Instagram account stops right away. To also delete the account details Visualist stored, disconnect Instagram in Visualist too.

Delete the rest of your data

To delete everything else Visualist holds from Instagram, including your publishing history and the Vai profile built from your posts, email legal@visualistapp.com. We handle it as an erasure request under section 10 of our Privacy Policy and reply within one month.

Posts you already published stay on Instagram. To remove them, delete them in Instagram. Meta processes information under its own terms and privacy policy.

For the privacy terms that cover this connection, see Optional connected services in our Privacy Policy.