Instagram deleting and blocking images from third-party Windows Phone app

The Windows Phone platform has definitely been picking up in the last few months. Instagram, however, continues to stand out by its absence. The decision to stay away from the mobile platform is intriguing, because many other online platforms like Vine, Flipboard as well as Facebook, which owns Instagram, have promised support for the new Windows 8 platform.

Nokia has been striving to get the photo-sharing app on board for a while now, most recently with its #2InstaWithLove campaign. Despite the effort, most Windows Phone users still have to use third-party applications for viewing and uploading Instagram photos. New information now suggests that Instagram is blocking the same from being able to do so.

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Instance, which was earlier called Itsdagram, is now being blocked by Instagram

The information first surfaced when Daniel Gary, the developer behind Instance, tweeted that Instagram was deleting images after they were uploaded to the service using the third-party Instance Windows Phone app. Earlier, the developer was forced to change the name of the app from "Itsdagram" to Instance, possibly due to copyright issues.

The Verge put this claim to the test by uploading images onto Instance. From their report, it seems that while the images do get uploaded to Instagram, the photos disappear after a few seconds and the URLs to access them no longer work. From the evidence presented, it now looks like Facebook is tracking uploads from the Instance app, and deleting the same. And it is possible that the social networking site is also doing the same for all other unofficial Instagram apps.