Common questions

Swatch doesn't sign in to Instagram or read your live account. You can plan for a personal, creator or business profile, then publish yourself in Instagram. A profile name in Swatch is a planning label; it doesn't switch Instagram's active account.

Swatch previews your profile as a three-column grid with 3:4 tiles, with markers for reels and carousels. The post itself can use a different ratio. Check its final crop and preview in Instagram before publishing; Instagram controls the live result.

Yes, with Pro. Free plans one grid on one account. Pro lifts that: keep an account for every client, brand or side project, each with its own grids, and swipe between them in the grid menu. Every account keeps its own feed, palette and posts, so nothing bleeds across.

Yes. Drop in colour placeholders to block out a feed's rhythm before you've shot anything, then let the colour map flatten every real photo to its dominant tone so you can read the whole palette at a glance.

Press and hold a tile, then drag to reorder, or drop a new one in anywhere. The grid reflows around it smoothly, so you can keep tuning the layout without it jumping or collapsing.

Yes. Single-photo posts and plain carousels are free in the iPhone app. To build one tile from several photos, Pro adds layouts (Grids) and framed sets (Frames): pick a layout, frame each photo, add text or a background colour, and it bakes down to one clean image ready for the feed.

Yes. Build a plain carousel slide by slide for free. With Pro, apply a single framed look across the set, or span one photo across several slides so it reads as one continuous image on the swipe (a seamless Panorama). Preview the whole post in an Instagram-style feed inside Swatch, then select the exported slides in order when posting.

Yes, free. Alongside the feed grid, plan Stories on a 9:16 canvas: drop in photos, text and backgrounds, arrange them across slides and preview the sequence. Layouts and Frames inside a Story require Pro to export. Seamless Panoramas are a feed-post tool.

On iPhone, save the finished photos and copy the caption, then open Instagram. On desktop, download the photos and copy the caption, or continue with the synced post in the iPhone app. In Instagram, choose the intended account, select your photos in order and paste the caption. Swatch doesn't switch Instagram accounts, automatically attach a carousel, publish for you or verify that you posted. Mark it as posted in Swatch after publishing.

Pro includes on-device caption suggestions on compatible iPhones running iOS 26 or later, with Apple Intelligence available and enabled. Image-aware suggestions vary by iOS version and device support. The desktop dashboard lets you write, edit and copy captions; it doesn't generate them. Writing and copying captions by hand in the iPhone app is free.

Swatch stores working copies for planning, so keep your camera originals separately. Standard iPhone grid imports and desktop imports use a maximum long edge of 3000 pixels. Smaller iPhone imports can keep their original bytes; some direct canvas imports retain the supplied image data. Desktop imports may be converted to JPEG or compressed further to fit upload limits. Sync carries the stored copy, which may differ from your camera original.

Finished posts are rendered as high-quality JPEGs with a 1080-pixel short edge: for example, 1080 × 1440 at 3:4 or 1080 × 1920 at 9:16. Cropping and spanning a photo across a panorama use part of the stored image, so the available detail depends on your source and crop. Instagram processes uploads separately; Swatch cannot guarantee its delivered resolution or compression.

No. Swatch is free to download, with a one-time Pro unlock listed at $9.99 USD. Prices in other currencies and regions are shown in the App Store. There are no Swatch renewals or monthly fees.

Free plans one grid on one account, with the whole feed workflow: single photos, plain carousels, text, colour placeholders, the colour map, reordering, Stories and export. Pro unlocks more grids and accounts, the Grids and Frames templates, seamless Panorama carousels, on-device AI captions, and the desktop dashboard beta, for one purchase. Optional design packs are separate purchases. Unlock Pro in the iPhone app; the dashboard reads that entitlement from the same iCloud account.

Your first grid remains available with the free planning tools. Pro adds more grids and accounts, exporting Grids and Frames, seamless Panoramas, supported on-device caption suggestions and the desktop dashboard beta.

Install Swatch on an iPhone running iOS 17 or later and unlock Pro in the app. Open the dashboard beta in a browser on your computer, then sign in with the same Apple Account you use for iCloud on your iPhone. The dashboard requires an internet connection. It is a browser app, so there's no separate desktop download or purchase.

Posts and their photos, edits, captions, posted marks, post order, grid names, Stories, your handle and display switches sync through your private iCloud. Select the same profile and grid on both devices. Removing a synced post or grid also removes it on the other device.

The desktop photo library, pins, and profile name and bio stay in that browser. Add a library photo to a post to sync it. Imported reel video files stay on the device where you imported them; the cover photo and planning information sync.

Swatch checks for changes while you're using it, and iCloud carries them between devices. Delivery depends on your connection, iCloud availability and the size of the photos; the first load or a large import may take longer. Keep both apps open during a handoff and check that your latest photo, edit and caption have arrived before exporting or posting. See sync troubleshooting if something is missing.

The iPhone keeps planning data locally and syncs it through your private iCloud when available. The dashboard reads and writes that iCloud data; its library photos remain in that browser. Placing one in a post adds the post's photo to iCloud. Browser previews and cached photos also use space on your computer. Swatch is a planning tool, so keep a separate archive of your camera originals.

Larger photo uploads from the dashboard pass through our relay on their way to Apple, without being retained by the relay. See the privacy page for data handling details.

The iPhone app supports local planning, composing and manual captions offline. iCloud sync, purchases and downloading photo originals that are only in iCloud Photos need a connection; synced changes catch up when connectivity returns. The desktop dashboard requires an internet connection to sign in, load your iCloud data and save changes.