Never + Instagram
Never publishes Reels directly to Instagram: one connection, then every vertical deliverable can be scheduled and posted with Instagram-native captions and hashtags. Pre-flight checks enforce the vertical requirement and duration caps, and a landscape source is re-rendered to 9:16 from the same edit rather than rejected.
How do you connect Instagram?
- Open Social Studio. In Never, open the calendar and choose Connected accounts.
- Add Instagram. Pick Instagram as one of the five slots in your profile set — every slot is swappable later.
- Authorize. Sign in on Instagram's own consent screen. Never receives a posting token, never your password.
- Pick defaults. Choose default visibility, posting window and caption behaviour for this account. Changeable per post.
- Publish something. Queue any finished deliverable to the new account. The first post verifies the connection end to end.
What are Instagram’s hard limits?
| Limit | Instagram enforces | What Never does |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation | Reels are vertical | 9:16 re-render from the same EDL when the source is landscape |
| Duration | Reels duration caps by account/API | checks before queueing; over-cap → trimmed copy offered |
| Safe zones | UI overlays top and bottom bands | composes face, captions and graphics inside the clear band |
What does Never repair before publishing?
Every deliverable is an EDL, so “wrong aspect” or “too long” is a re-render, not a rejection. Never validates against the limits above and repairs before submitting — you see the fix, not the failure.
| Rejection that would happen | Auto-repair |
|---|---|
| Landscape source queued as a Reel | vertical re-render, face-tracked — free, it's a cache hit on the EDL |
| Duration past the Reels cap | trimmed copy prepared and offered |
| Caption over Instagram's length | shortened preserving the hook |
The part nobody tells you about Reels
The frame is not yours. Instagram draws its username, audio attribution, caption and action rail over roughly the top 200 and bottom 300 pixels of a 1080×1920 Reel. Content that ignores those bands ships fine and displays wrong. Never's measured reframe composes inside the clear band automatically — the same rule the free checker lets you verify by hand.
Read the transcript
Never + Instagram Never publishes Reels directly to Instagram: one connection, then every vertical deliverable can be scheduled and posted with Instagram-native captions and hashtags. Pre-flight checks enforce the vertical requirement and duration caps, and a landscape source is re-rendered to 9:16 from the same edit rather than rejected.
Frequently asked questions
Reels only, or feed video too?
Reels are the primary surface — vertical video is what Instagram distributes. Where the API exposes additional surfaces for your account type, they appear as options on the same connected account.
Why did my Reel look cropped on Instagram?
Instagram's UI overlays the top and bottom of the frame — username up top, caption and actions below. Content composed edge-to-edge gets covered, not cropped. Never frames faces and captions inside the clear band; test any frame with the safe-zone checker.
Do I need a business or creator account?
API publishing requires a professional (creator or business) Instagram account connected to the platform's approval flow — the connect step walks through it. Personal accounts can't be posted to by any third-party tool.