As we have previously established, bookstagram is a portmanteau consisting of books and Instagram. The aim is to share the love for books with fellow bibliophiles on Instagram. This can be spontaneous or planned, or even mixed, depending on what you hope to achieve with your bookstagram account.

Bookstagram can quickly take over a lot of free time. In order to keep having fun without feeling overwhelmed, I’ve rounded up some helpful apps. After all, photo editing apps aren’t the only ones to keep the bookstagram game strong. Productivity matters too, so here goes.

Initially I planned to either cover apps that aid productivity or programs to edit photos on computers. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that we should tackle this topic first: real time vs. planned content. There are different approaches and there’s no hard and fast rule but it is worth thinking about levels of spontaneity. Knowing which approach you choose will make it a lot easier to keep your bookstagram account going.

Before going into today’s topic on the useful apps for bookstagram, there’re a couple of things I should point out. My aim is to present breadth rather than depth. If I were to outline the workflows for all the apps I’m presenting, we’d still be here tomorrow. Another point to note: I’m an iPhone user. I’ve never had an Android phone and have only had brief moments with a Windows operated phone.

Instagram is primarily an app-based platform. Even though they do have a website, new users can only sign up via the app. Uploading photos is only possible via the native app. This means that you must have access to a smartphone (or tablet that can run smartphone apps) and install the official Instagram app. It’s available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 onwards.