Social media scheduling has become ubiquitous, with many SaaS tools out there that let you automate your social media posting for $49-$99 per month.

But something that has never worked seamlessly is Instagram scheduling. While many tools have had an integration for a while (Buffer is the one that comes to the top of my mind), they weren’t true “auto posting” but rather you could schedule the service to remind you when it was time to post, then tap a link to be redirected to Instagram to post it manually.

I was never able to find another tool that would actually auto-publish.

But last night, I was on my iPhone and looking at the Facebook Pages app. I was asked if I wanted to update to the Facebook Business Suite app, which I chose to do because it seemed cool.

And lo and behold, this morning I successfully scheduled my first Instagram post and it went live without me doing anything more.

Within the app, I can even see comments to know if I should go over the Instagram app to reply. (PS Instagram/Facebook if you’re reading this, the ability to reply to those from within the Business Suite app would be amazing).

So, here’s how to schedule Instagram posts for free on mobile.

How do you schedule posts on Instagram mobile?

It is not possible to schedule Instagram posts directly within the Instagram app on either mobile or desktop. However, it is possible to do so using the Facebook Business Suite on iPhone!

Can you schedule posts on Instagram for free?

Yes! It is possible to schedule Instagram posts for free using the Facebook Business Suite app!

Download the Facebook Business Suite App

First, download the Facebook Business Suite from the App Store (here is the Android version).

It’s a free download.

Then open the app and log in with your Facebook credentials.

Connect or select your Instagram account

Next, connect or select your Instagram account. If you’re already connected to Instagram through the Business Manager on facebook.com, it should automatically appear.

Click the blue Create button

Next, click the blue Create (+) button. You’ll be taken to the creation screen.

Write your caption and select your photo

Next, write your caption then select your photo or video with the Photo/Video option.

Click Next

Once that’s done, click Next in the top right.

Select Publishing Options and “Schedule for later”

Now you will see Publishing Options along the top.

Select that then “Schedule for later” and the time you want.

Schedule!

Now click Schedule at the top right, and your post will be scheduled!

If you’re looking for how to schedule Instagram posts from desktop for free, you can find a good writeup on that here.