Instagram vs. Teen: Who Will Win?

A teenager recently developed an app that allows users to use their computers instead of their phones – and Instagram is not happy about it.

A Los Angeles high school is in for the fight of his life. Caleb Benn developed an app that has been gaining ground: it’s called Uploader, and it is a service that many fans of the Instagram app have been asking for. The app allows its users to upload photos from their computers, which allows for higher resolution edits of images. Benn took about a weekend to build the app and has been selling in the Apple Store for a few weeks. So popular, in fact, that he’s earning nearly $1,000 a day on the $4.99 app. 

Instagram does not like the app, and said that the app violated the company’s terms of service. An engineer for Instagram warned Benn via email that he needs to get the app fixed by Monday. Benn responded that the proposed “fixes” would actually make his app useless, but he hasn’t heard back and Instagram is not commenting on the situation.

Instagram is owned by Facebook, which has restrictions against those not employeed by either program from using its private API, which Benn’s new app does use. He admits to hacking the API through Instagram, but he did nothing malicious while there. 

CNN Money predicts that the app will be shut down because Instagram’s market is those who own smartphones, and they fear opening it up that way would cause fewer people to use the app on a regular basis – think Facebook and Twitter when more adults started using it. Plus it could lead to more edits, which would take away from the tone of the app.

Instagram has not yet asked Apple to remove the program, but Benn insists that those who already have the program would still have access to it even if they did. 

Many lawyers are encouraging Benn to take the app down himself, as there is virutally no chance he could win in court, if it gets that far.