Wondering what the difference is between Auto Publish and notification publishing, or how to switch between them? We’re here to explain!

What’s the Difference?

Auto Publish

Auto Publish posts will automatically be published at their scheduled time. Once you’ve scheduled an Auto Publish post, there’s no further action needed from you! 

• Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn posts will always be auto published
• Due to API limitations, Auto Publish for Instagram and TikTok is only available for Instagram business profiles and TikTok Business Accounts
• Instagram Stories cannot be auto published due to Instagram limitations

Notification Publishing

With notification publishing, we’ll send a push notification to your mobile device at your post’s scheduled date & time. You must open this notification and complete the publishing process manually—but we’ll make it easy for you by saving or opening up your media for you (depending on the post type) and automatically copying your caption.

• Notification publishing is only available for Instagram and TikTok
• Notification publishing is not available Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn posts—these posts will always be auto published
• Later’s mobile app is required for notification publishing

How to Switch Your Publishing Method

Once Auto Publish is enabled, you can switch an eligible Instagram or TikTok post between auto publishing and notification publishing at any time before it is published. Here’s how:

1. Open a post that is not yet published from your Later Calendar, or create a new post
2. At the top of the Post Builder, click on the current publishing method
3. Select your preferred publishing method from the dropdown
4. Click Save

How to Set a Default Publishing Method

Once you set up Auto Publish, any new eligible Instagram and TikTok posts will be set to Auto Publish by default. If you prefer the default to be notification posts, you can change this setting per profile from app.later.com on desktop:

1. Navigate to Settings > Social Sets & Access Groups, or click here
2. Click Edit next to the Access Group that contains the profile(s) for which you’d like to change the default
3. Click Edit next to the Instagram or TikTok profile to open up the settings for that profile
4. Click Auto Publish
5. Toggle Auto Publish Posts by Default on or off
   • You can also toggle whether you’d like to receive a notification to let you know once a post has been auto published
6. Click Save
7. Repeat for any other profiles, if desired
   • Each individual TikTok or Instagram profile can have its own default

Why is Auto Publish not available for my post?

Due to API limitations, Auto Publish is not available for types of posts and/or social profiles.

If you're not seeing the Auto Publish option in the Post Builder, it’s likely that one of the following is true: 

1. You’re scheduling to an Instagram personal or creator profile. Due to API restrictions, Auto Publish is only available for Instagram business profiles. How to switch
2. You’re scheduling to a TikTok Personal Account. Due to API restrictions, Auto Publish is only available for TikTok Business Accounts. How to switch
3. You’re scheduling an Instagram Story. Due to Instagram restrictions, Stories can’t be auto published. They must use notification publishing. Learn more
4. You haven't enabled Auto Publish, or you need to refresh your profile.
5. You’re creating/editing a post that isn’t for Instagram or TikTok. Notification publishing is only available for Instagram and TikTok. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn posts will always be auto published.