Everyone knows you can't upload Instagram photos from your computer, or at least, that's what they thought. A 17-year-old guy created an app called Uploader for Instagram which allows users to do just that.

Caleb Benn, is just a 17-year-old high school student and he's the one that made the app.


It solves the problem for Instagram users, allowing them to upload pics to the platform using their computers instead of just using the app. The best part? It only took Benn one weekend to build the app.

The app costs $4.99 and Benn is netting $1,000 a day. He's only 17 but he owns two software companies already.


Obviously, Instagram isn't happy, and an engineer sent Benn an email last Friday claiming that his app violated the company's terms of service and Benn needs to fix his app by Monday. Benn didn't. He told CNN Money:

“I believe it’s entirely legal for my app to perform these actions.”

Of course, Benn's wrong. Instagram has restrictions against using its private API and since Benn gained it by hacking Instagram, his app could be forced to shut down.


What do you think? Should Instagram shut Benn's app down? Gotta say, getting pwned by a 17-year-old probably isn't something people experience every other day.

Chris Messina, the inventor of Twitter's hashtag chimed in to add that accessing the API "opens up possibilities for all kinds of abuse, from spambots or people uploading stuff from other channels"  and also said that if Instagram wanted people to upload pics from their computer they would have done so a long time ago. Finally he added:

“Instagram, from a product perspective, is intended to be about capturing the moment using your phone’s camera. Start enabling computers to upload content, and it could take away the platform’s aesthetic and tone. That erodes the user experience.”

Do you agree?