I ♥ Instagram. It's probably my favorite social media channel. Well, except my blog. Obviously. :)

Last week, for my inaugural Tuesday's Tip, I shared some ways to increase your Instagram following, and today I want to share a few of my favorite Instagram apps.

Tuesday's Tip #2 - Apps to Maximize Your Instagram

There are a LOT of apps out there. I generally use the Instagram app itself most often, but recently I've discovered a few other apps that are pretty helpful.

All of these apps are available both from Google Play and the iTunes store. I've only used the free versions of the following apps. Most of them have full versions for purchase with more features, but here is what's available for free.

Apps to help with followers

InstaFollow (Google Play and iTunes)
This app allows you to keep track of who is following you, who recently unfollowed you, etc. It makes it really easy to follow people who you aren't following back I always try to follow back, unless it's clearly a spammy account OR to unfollow people who recently stopped following you.

Following/Unfollowing users is really quick and easy. Sometimes a little too easy. Instragram only also you to follow/unfollow 160 users/hour. This app makes it easy to get to that number and also prevents you from breaking any IG rules.

Statigr.am
This isn't really an app per se, but it is a very helpful tool. Just go to Statigr.am and log in with your IG username/password. Pretty much any stat you want on your account, Statigr.am will deliver - not only about who your followers ARE but which posts they are engaging with. Really useful info here!

Apps for collages

Sometimes it's fun to post a few pictures at once. I have tried a LOT of these types of apps, but here are my two favorites.

PhotoGrid
This is probably my most used app. I use it to watermark my pictures or add any other text. It also has great stickers and backgrounds. You can use it with a single picture or up to 9 photos. Lots of great layout options for multiple photos. You can even add filters and crop images. It auto populates the images, but it's really easy to switch them around.

Flipagram
This is a new-to-me app since I got my Nexus 5, and I was hooked right away! Instead of a static collage, this app takes your photos and flips through them in a slideshow video. You can choose which photos to include, and you can even find music to play along with the video! It's very fun!

Apps for likes

The following apps are very new-to-me, and I haven't played around with them a lot yet, but they are full of potential!

TagsforLikes
I used to use an app called InstaTag, but it was a bit complicated and cumbersome. I recently discovered TagsforLikes and found it very easy to use. Basically, you just choose a category and then copy the hashtags to paste into your Instagram post. So easy!!

InstaWeather, InstaFood, InstaPlace
Again, these are very new to me, and I haven't played around with them too much, but they are great! They all come with multiple overlays for your photo, and they come with Cool Hashtags, which you can copy and paste into Instagram. Most of the skins are very easy to customize. Just double tap on they text you want to change. Double tapping on the temperature on InstaWeather will toggle between °F and °C. I think the default is for °C, but you can change that in the settings in the upper left.

NOTE: Instagram only allows 30 hashtags per post. TagsforLikes generates a list of 30 hashtags, so if you want to use any of your own, you'll need to delete some of the copied hashtags. The Insta apps don't generate as many hashtags, so you're free to add your own as well.

What are your favorite Instagram apps?
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