Use the mobile notification workflow

Oct 9, 2026
Knowledge

Procedure Steps

Article updated: July 21, 2026

Use the mobile notification workflow

Publish your Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok posts, stories, and reels on-the-go using the mobile notification workflow. With this publishing method, you get a push notification on your Hootsuite mobile app when it’s time to publish your post. Hootsuite sends your prepared content, including media, to your mobile device for you to publish through the Facebook, Instagramor TikTok app.

Note: When you publish an Instagram post using the mobile notification workflow, any tags and campaigns you applied when creating the post are not reflected in Analytics.

Instagram requires Creator profiles to use this publishing method for all posts and stories. Instagram Business profiles can opt to publish this way to add final touches in Instagram such as filters or tags.

This article describes the new Social OS experience. If you haven't switched yet, select the Classic tab for instructions. Learn more about the Social OS experience.

Before you begin

Make sure you do the following:

Install the latest versions of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Hootsuite on your mobile device.
Turn on push notifications in your device settings to get the reminders.
Allow Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to access all photos and videos on your device.

When you create an Instagram post in Hootsuite and use the mobile notification workflow to publish it, the following features are not available:

adding the first comment to the post
adding location or product tags
inviting other Instagram users to collaborate on your post
boosting the post on Instagram

You can take any of these actions in Instagram once the post is published.

Enable push notifications

Set up your notifications to get a push notification on your Hootsuite mobile app when it’s time to publish your post (either right away or at the scheduled time).

Open your Hootsuite mobile app.
Select your account profile picture .
Select the Settings tab, and then select Notifications.
Select Social accounts, select each Facebook, Instagram , and TikTok profile you want to publish to, and then turn on all notifications for each profile.
If notification permissions for the Hootsuite app aren't enabled in your mobile device settings, follow the prompts to turn them on too.

Members of a Hootsuite organization must complete these steps to publish posts to an organization's Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok profile from their own mobile device. All mobile devices that are set up to get publishing notifications for an organization's Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok profile will get the notifications.

Important: Notifications get turned off when you log out of your Hootsuite and Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok apps. Make sure you’re always logged in to both apps.

Send your post to the Hootsuite app

Once you create your post in Hootsuite, you can publish it using the mobile notification workflow.

Go to Perch, then select Calendar to start and schedule your post in a calendar view, or select Create a post.
Select your Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok account, select your post type from the menu, enter a caption, and add your media.
Select the Publish via mobile notification toggle to turn on the mobile notification workflow.
(Optional) Enter text in the Notes for the publisher box to include instructions for the person who will be publishing the post from their mobile device.
Select Post now or Schedule for later.

Select Plan to start and schedule your post in a calendar view, or start your post from Create.
Select your Facebook or Instagram account, select your post type from the menu, enter a caption, and add your media.
Select the Publish via mobile notification toggle to turn on the mobile notification workflow.
(Optional) Enter text in the Notes for the publisher box to include instructions for the person who will be publishing the post from their mobile device.
Select Post now or Schedule for later.

Finish publishing via mobile notification

Hootsuite sends your prepared post, including all media files, to your mobile device for you to post in the Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok app. Completing the workflow in Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok gives you the ability to add final touches to your post.

Any team member with Hootsuite publishing permissions and permissions in Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok can publish the post from the notification.

To open the notification in your Hootsuite mobile app, select Notifications .
Select Publish in Facebook, Publish in Instagram or Publish in TikTok. If there are any notes for the publisher with the post, you can see them when the notification opens.
Select Open to publish in Facebook, Open to publish in Instagram, or Open to publish in TikTok. Your caption text is copied to your device clipboard and the Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok app opens (you'll paste your caption in a later step).
Important: Hootsuite does not detect which profile is signed in to your Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok app. If you publish to more than one profile, make sure you're signed in to the social network with the same profile you selected in Hootsuite.
If you get the error "Unable to publish to Instagram," check the Hootsuite app permissions in your device settings. Hootsuite needs access to all photos.
In the Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok app, create a new post. The first photo or video saved on your device is selected by default. If your post has multiple images or videos (carousel), press and hold one of the images in your camera roll to select them all.
Select Next to edit, add filters, and make other adjustments to your media files, and then select Next.
Select Write a caption, long press in the caption area, select Paste to paste in your caption, and then select OK.
(Optional) For Instagram posts, select Tag People to tag other Instagram accounts in your post and Add Location to add a location.
Select Share to publish your post.

The Notifications list tells you if a notification has already been opened by a team member. Opened by (name) means the post has already been opened in the Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok app.

An Instagram publishing notification, showing that a team member has already opened it.

You can open the notification, select Opened by (name), and then either mark the post as not opened or open it in Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok again.

The Opened by (name) button selected, showing further actions.

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Use the mobile notification workflow

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