Instagram repost apps for Android, and how to credit the original

Instagram is built around posting your own photos and videos. There is a heart, a comment box and a paper-airplane icon under every post, but no button that places another account’s post on your own grid the way a retweet works on Twitter. That gap is why a small category of Android apps exists.

The built-in option: share to your Story

Since May 2018 the app has let you put a public post into your Story. Tap the paper-airplane icon under the post and choose “Add post to your story.” The post appears as a sticker on a colored background, the original author’s username is shown on it, and viewers can tap through to the source. Posts from private accounts cannot be shared this way, and any account holder can switch the option off for their own posts in settings.

For many uses this is enough, and it needs no extra app, no copied link and no second upload. The Story disappears after 24 hours unless you save it to a highlight, and the credit is handled for you.

When a repost app makes sense

A repost app is for putting another account’s photo or video on your permanent grid: a brand sharing a customer’s photo of its product, a club posting a member’s race picture, a photographer’s client sharing the finished shoot. In each case the right order is the same. Ask first, in a comment or a direct message, and keep the reply. Instagram’s terms say you may only post content you have the rights to share, and a creator who never agreed can have the repost taken down.

Three apps that do the job

Regrann

Regrann is an Android-only app that has been on Google Play for years. You copy a post’s link in Instagram, and Regrann picks it up, copies the caption, and lets you add a small credit badge with the author’s name before sending the image back to Instagram to post. The free version is supported by ads.

Repost for Instagram

Made by Red Cactus, this one has passed ten million installs on Google Play. The workflow is the same: copy the share link, open the app, choose where the attribution mark sits on the image, and hand it back to Instagram. It keeps the original caption so you can add the credit line under it.

Reposta

Reposta works from a pasted link and does not ask you to sign in with your Instagram account. That matters more than it sounds.

Before you install anything

Avoid any repost or downloader app that asks for your Instagram username and password. An app that logs in as you can post, follow and message in your name, and Instagram treats that kind of automated access as a reason to lock accounts. The three above work from a copied link.

Skip apps that promise to save content from private profiles or to enlarge profile pictures for “stalking.” They are outside what the platform allows and often carry aggressive ads.

Reposting step by step

1. Get the creator’s permission.
2. In Instagram, tap the three dots on the post and choose “Copy Link.”
3. Open the repost app. Most detect the copied link automatically.
4. Pick where the credit badge goes and whether to keep the original caption.
5. Tap repost. Instagram opens with the image loaded.
6. In the caption, tag the creator with their @handle so the credit is clickable.

Since then, in August 2025, Instagram added its own Repost option for public posts and reels, which credits the original account and collects reposts in a separate tab on your profile.