Los Angeles high school student Caleb Benn has developed an
app called Uploader for Instagram, which is exactly what it sounds like. It allows
users to upload photos to Instagram directly from their computer instead of
solely from their phone, which has long been a frustration.
It took Benn a weekend to build and it has been on the Apple
app store for a couple weeks, where it's growing in popularity. He said it's
making him $1,000 a day. Instagram isn't a fan. An engineer for the company
sent Benn an email on Friday, saying the app violated the company's terms of
service and he needed to fix the app by Monday to get it in line.
Instagram, owned by Facebook, has restrictions against
using its private API, which Benn's app uses. Benn admitted he got access to
the API by hacking Instagram. "But not to cause damage or anything,"
he said.
Chris Messina, a Silicon Valley technologist posted about
Benn's app on Product Hunt, a platform where users review and discuss new
technology. Many commenters predicted Benn's app will be shut down. We
downloaded Benn's app at CNNMoney, and while it does work as promised, it's not
terribly user friendly. Applying filters is not nearly as easy as using the
iPhone app. Benn said he's received similar feedback, and is working to improve
it.
If Instagram does want people to stop downloading his app,
it could feasibly ask the Apple app store to stop carrying it. But Benn said
that won't affect existing users. Grossman
said he'd counsel Instagram to block Benn and his technology quietly, since it
doesn't look great for a big company to chase a 17-year-old with scary legal
letters. Best-case scenerio, Grossman said, is that Benn shuts down the app on
his own.
Benn said he's not ready to take down the app yet. In the meantime, the money he's making from
the app is going to his college fund. He's planning to study computer science.
Click
here to access the full article on CNNMoney.