This Is The Only Way You Should Post Instagram Photos To Twitter

Twitter and Instagram do not play nicely with each other.

Several months ago, Instagram blocked photos from appearing as in-line images in your Twitter feed. Now, whenever you post an Instagram photo to Twitter, your Twitter followers have to click a separate link to view it in their Web browsers.

It's a minor inconvenience, but it's still not as nice as viewing photos directly in your Twitter stream, especially since Twitter updated its mobile apps a few weeks ago to put a bigger emphasis on those in-line photos.

But there's a way around it using a service called If This Then That (IFTTT). IFTTT is a service that lets you code "recipes" together for certain actions. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Caleb Garling made an IFTTT recipe today that solves the whole Instagram/Twitter problem. And it's super easy to set up.

Here's how to do it.

First, go to ifttt.com. If you don't have an IFTTT account, you can create one in less than a minute. Once you're signed in, head to this link, which is Garling's Instagram/Twitter recipe.

Click the blue "Use Recipe" button.

Next, you'll need to sync both Instagram and Twitter with your IFTTT account. Click "Activate" next to Instagram first.

A new window will pop up. Log in with your Instagram username and password and give IFTTT permission to access your Instagram account.

Do the same with your Twitter account.

Now click "Use Recipe" again. IFTTT will take you to this screen that confirms the recipe is working. It'll take 15 minutes or so to activate though, so be patient.

Now post a photo to Instagram. You don't need to select the Twitter sharing option in the Instagram app though. IFTTT will do that automatically.

There's a slight delay, but your Instagram photo will soon appear as an in-line photo in your Twitter stream. Easy!

Testing a new IFTTT pic.twitter.com/Xe8q6Y8BiX

- Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) December 26, 2013