For some months now, I’ve moved away from Instagram. The app isn’t what it used to be, and I’ve started to care more about controlling my own content, privacy, and what kind of platforms I support.
The idea seemed simple: take my old Instagram photos and post them somewhere new — somewhere I feel good about. The reality? Much trickier.
The Great Search for an Alternative
I first tried adding my photos directly to my personal website, but it didn’t give me the social, timeline feel I was looking for. It felt static — more like a portfolio than a living feed.
Then I looked at Pixelfed, which is part of the Fediverse (like Mastodon). It’s promising in terms of values — open-source, decentralized, and privacy-friendly. But one big problem: it doesn’t support importing Instagram photos easily. That was a dealbreaker for me.
Next up: Flickr. Still alive, still solid. It’s actually great for photography albums and more “professional” photos. But it didn’t feel like a casual, social timeline — and it wasn’t ideal for daily moments or a place to rebuild my Instagram-like feed.
Then came Immich, a really cool self-hosted photo tool. I plan to use this one day to fully replace iCloud Photos — it’s private, powerful, and organizes everything locally. But it doesn’t yet support public albums, and I wasn’t ready to host everything myself just yet.
Finding a Real (and Fun) Home: Bluesky
That’s when I turned to Bluesky. I was already using it as a social network, and I liked the vibe — it’s smaller, experimental, and focused on building something new and open.
The problem? The Bluesky app doesn’t let you upload images with past dates. I wanted my feed to look like a real timeline, not just a bunch of photos posted today. Luckily, the Bluesky API had something interesting: you can set timestamps manually — it just requires some coding.
Coding Without Knowing How to Code
Here’s where it gets fun: I had no idea how to code this. But with the help of Replit (a free coding platform) and a little AI assistance, I managed to build a simple tool that:
- Uploads my photos to Bluesky
- Uses the original date from the photo’s EXIF data
- Posts them in correct order on my feed
You can see the project here: BlueskyImageUploaderCustomTimestamp on Replit
A Timeline That Feels Like Me Again
Using the Flashes app (which makes Bluesky look like a timeline-based photo feed), my old Instagram moments are now live again — in proper order, with the right dates, and on a platform I actually enjoy using.
If you don’t use Flashes, you can still scroll through my Bluesky profile — the photos are there too.
Want to Try This Too?
This wasn’t a techie project — it started out just wanting to own my photos again, in a place I like. If you’ve ever thought about leaving Instagram or just want to try something new, maybe this setup is for you too.
I’m happy to help anyone curious. The tools are free, and if I could do it, anyone can. Let’s take back control of our memories!