Instagram Bans Connected Apps From Using 'Insta' Or 'Gram'

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Kaylene Hong

Kaylene Hong was Asia Reporter for The Next Web between 2013 and 2014, based in Singapore. She is bilingual in English and Mandarin. Stay in (show all) Kaylene Hong was Asia Reporter for The Next Web between 2013 and 2014, based in Singapore. She is bilingual in English and Mandarin. Stay in touch via Twitter or Google+.

Instagram has updated its Instagram Brand Guidelines to ban connected apps from using “Insta” or “Gram” in their names, as this could suggest that Instagram sponsors or endorses their product, TechCrunch reports.

The company started sending out emails to existing apps with “Insta” or “Gram” in their names, asking them to make the relevant changes “within a reasonable period”. One of them was Luxogram.

In a published email sent to the Luxogram team, Instagram says the use of “Insta” and “Gram” for an app that works with Instagram is harmful to the Instagram brand, and it is important for the connected app to develop its “own distinctive branding”.