InPic for Instagram on Windows Phone 8 goes on a diet, gets security fixes in latest update

InPic, developed by ApplyF, is full featured Instagram client for Windows Phone 8. It falls into the same camp as Instance and 6tag in that it allows users to directly post to the popular photo sharing network. It’s also available as a Windows 8 app, is completely free and it easily has one of the nicest UIs we’ve come across.

Version 1.1 is now live in the Store and with it, brings numerous changes worth revealing. The biggest one is InPic now has the Instagram security requirements enabled, including full logout from the service.

Official Instagram apps basically insert a marker into your photos before being uploaded. In doing so, the service marks these images as legit and allows them to be indexed for tagging. It’s akin to how antibodies work, if you’re familiar with biology. The security feature was introduced to prevent spam on Instagram, but as a side effect it initially caused issues with photos being posted by nonsanctioned apps, including the famous “hashtag issue”.

InPic v1.1, like 6tag (and Instance version 2, which is in beta) has this security feature supported, giving users solace in knowing that their images won’t cause the Instagram service to flag their accounts. In fact, Daniel Gary of Instance actually assisted the developer of InPic to get this missing featured enabled. Kudos to Windows Phone developers who help each other out.

The other big change in InPic version 1.1 is the app is now much smaller. The initial release of InPic had the app at a monstrous 31 MB but that has now been slimmed down to a slim 6 MB in today’s update. That’s essential for people with the entry level Windows Phones, where space is a premium. Indeed, early reports suggest that InPic runs very well on 512 MB devices too.

The only significant feature limitation on InPic is it doesn’t allow video uploads, though users can view and even download other people’s videos. Video uploading requires external servers to be setup and maintained, which is no easy task, nor cheap. Seeing as InPic is completely free with no ads, it seems to be a fair tradeoff (and some of us never touch the video upload feature anyway).

InPic version 1.1 is a solid, well-built Instagram app for Windows Phone 8. It follows the Instagram security guidelines and has a gorgeous UI. It’s also quite fast and fluid, making it worthy of your attention if you’re a regular Instagram users.

You can grab InPic here in the Store. Windows Phone 8; 512 MB devices OK

Thanks, zhoulhas, for the tip