Why aren't my Instagram posts sending automatically?

Instagram works differently from other social networks, and not all posts can be published automatically. Automatic publishing is only supported for Instagram professional accounts, including Business and Creator accounts, and only for posts that meet Instagram’s automatic publishing requirements.

Learn more about how Buffer publishes to Instagram.

If your post can’t be sent automatically, or if notification publishing is enabled by default, it will be scheduled as a notification instead. This means you’ll finish publishing the post manually from your phone using a push notification from the Buffer mobile app.

In this article:

1. Why did Buffer send my Instagram post to my phone instead of publishing it automatically?
2. Automatic publishing checklist
3. Publishing a post that was scheduled as a notification
   • Where can I find posts that were already sent to my phone?
4. Do I need the Buffer mobile app to publish to Instagram?
5. Why do my Instagram posts keep failing with an “unknown error”?

Why did Buffer send my Instagram post to my phone instead of publishing it automatically?

The most common reason is that the post was scheduled as a notification instead of an automatic post. This can happen because of your Instagram account type, notification publishing settings, the attached media's aspect ratio, Reel length, or an unsupported feature.

Even if your Instagram account type and media aspect ratio meet the requirements for automatic publishing, some post features can still require notification publishing. This includes stickers, music, product tags, links in Stories, or other features that Instagram doesn’t allow Buffer to publish automatically.

Work through the automatic publishing checklist first. If everything looks correct, the post may have failed due to an unexpected error or an outage at Buffer or Instagram. You can check our status page for the latest updates.

Automatic publishing checklist

Automatic posting is only available for Instagram professional accounts. There are a few factors that affect whether or not your post is sent out automatically, so we've created this checklist to help you identify any missing pieces and make sure you've got everything in place.

1. Is your Instagram account set as a personal account? Automatic posting is only available for Instagram Business or Creator accounts. To switch your account, click the Switch to a Professional account button at the top of your dashboard:

   

2. Is the "Enable Notifications by default" setting turned off? If this setting is on, every Instagram post is scheduled as a notification. To check it:

   a. Select your Instagram account on the left side of your dashboard.

   b. Click the ⚙️ gear icon to open the Instagram channel Settings.

   

   c. On the General tab, make sure "Enable Notifications by default" is not set to Enabled.

3. Does your image or video meet Instagram's aspect ratio requirements? Instagram only lets us publish media automatically if it fits within these ranges. Anything outside them is scheduled as a notification instead. See our detailed aspect ratio guide for more information.

• Images must be between 0.8 and 1.91. Images with a ratio that's even slightly outside the range (for example, 0.799 when the minimum is 0.8) will be scheduled as a notification.
• For Reels, is the video between 5 seconds and 15 minutes? A Reel shorter than 5 seconds or longer than 15 minutes is scheduled as a notification.

4. Does your post include a feature that Instagram doesn't support for automatic publishing? If your post includes any of the following, it's automatically switched to "Notify Me" and scheduled as a notification:

• music for stories or reels
• links on stories
• text on stories
• product tags
• collaboration posts
• topics

These features aren't supported in Instagram's API for automatic publishing. Adding one of these (for example, a sticker or music) can silently switch a post to notification mode. When you're scheduling a post, Buffer shows whether it will be a notification:

Posts scheduled as a notification also show a Notify label in your queue:

If you’re new to notification publishing, this guide will walk you through how it works: Using notification publishing.

Publishing a post that was scheduled as a notification

If your post was scheduled as a notification, it won’t publish on its own. Buffer will send a push notification to your phone so you can finish publishing the post in the Instagram app.

To receive these notifications, you’ll need the Buffer mobile app installed with push notifications enabled. If no mobile device is linked to your Buffer account, the notification can’t be delivered, and the post won’t be published. A common sign of this is a failed post with this error:

"Whoops! We are having trouble sending notifications to your mobile device. Please try linking a mobile device to your account!"

This means Buffer tried to send the notification, but there isn’t a mobile device linked to your account to receive it.

To set up notification publishing:

1. Download the Buffer mobile app on your phone (iOS or Android).
2. Log in to the app using the same email as your Buffer account.
3. Enable push notifications for Buffer in your phone's settings.
4. In the Buffer app, tap the menu (top left), then Account Settings, then Push Notifications, and tap Reset Push Notifications.
5. On your computer, open Buffer, select your Instagram channel, click the ⚙️ gear icon, and use Test Notifications to check that your phone receives a test alert.

Where can I find posts that were already sent to my phone?

A post scheduled as a notification appears in the Sent tab with a notification banner. From there, you can send it to your phone to finish in the Instagram app or share it again.

On mobile: tap the three dots in the top right of the post. From there, you can publish your post to Instagram or copy it back into your queue.

On web: go to the Sent tab and find your post. If the notification never reached your phone, or the scheduled time has passed, use Duplicate to create a fresh copy.

Do I need the Buffer mobile app to publish to Instagram?

Not for automatic posts, which publish on their own without a device. You will need the app for any post scheduled to be sent as a notification. This allows Buffer to send you a push notification so you can finish publishing your post in the Instagram app on your phone.

Why do my Instagram posts keep failing with an “unknown error”?

Your Instagram post encountered an unexpected error.