A 17 year-old college student could face a battle with Instagram after hacking the popular photo-sharing app . Caleb Benn , a Californian high school student , recently developed a $ 4.99 ( £3.24 ) app for iOS devices using Instagram 's application program interface . Called 'Uploader for Instagram ' , it allows users to upload photos to Instagram directly from their computer rather than using only their smartphone . Caleb Benn , a Californian high school student , has developed a $ 4.99 ( £3.24 ) app for iOS devices using Instagram 's application program interface ( screen shot pictured ) . Now , the 17 year-old student could face a battle with Instagram over hackings its API . According Jillian Eugenios at CNNMoney , the teenager is currently making $ 1,000 ( £675.70 ) a day from the app – and Instagram is n't happy . An engineer from Facebook , which owns Instagram , sent Benn an email last week claiming the app violated the company 's terms of service . The email asked Benn to 'fix ' the app by Monday , but Benn said doing this would make the app would be pointless . 'To be honest , I was n't nonplussed when I got the email from Facebook , ' Benn told DailyMail.com . ' I knew my app was playing in a legal gray area , and I suspected Facebook would find out about it somehow . ' Facebook has strict restrictions against using its private API . An engineer from Instagram allegedly sent Benn an email last week , claiming the app violated the company 's terms of service . Pictured on the right is a screenshot of the 'Uploader for Instagram ' service . Chris Messina , a Silicon Valley technologist told CNNMoney the problem is that accessing the API 'opens up possibilities for all kinds of abuse , from spambots or people uploading stuff from other channels . ' One in five Instagram users now combine their photos into a single image before uploading it to the app . To capitalise on this , the Californian firm has launched its latest standalone app called Layout that lets people create such collages with up to nine images and 11 combinations . Photos can be selected from the phone 's camera roll , or taken with the Photo Booth tool , and Layouts can then be 'remixed ' and edited with mirror effects and flips . The Layout app has four main features called Faces , Mirroring , Photo Booth and Previews . Users begin by selecting as many images , up to the maximum of nine , to feature in the collage . Photos can be selected or deselected at any point . As they add more images , the layout of the collage changes and photos can be dragged between sections and different sized boxes as desired . These photos can then be zoomed , flipped to form a mirror image , or turned upside down . He added , if Instagram wanted users to post from a computer , they can do so themselves . ' I was initially inspired to create the app because I saw a sincerely lacking feature for the desktop , ' Benn said . ' I know Instagram purposely left out the uploading feature from the web interface to keep the social network ’ s unique , mobile-centered ecosystem intact . Instagram did release a web version of its software , called 'Your Instagram Feed on the Web ' in February 2013 . This allowed users to comment on each other 's photos from a desktop , but the photo sharing site still does not allow uploaded of images from a PC . To combat the problem , some Instagram fans have installed special software , such as BlueStacks App Player , designed to simulate a mobile phone operating system on their computer . Uploader for Instagram offers a simpler workaround , and it is already garnering positive reviews on the App store . One user wrote : 'For my job , we post eight to ten Instagram pictures a week that are first designed on the computer . 'So it 's always been a bit of a nuisance to transfer the image over to my phone then upload to Instagram . This app takes care of that . ' Instagram , which Facebook acquired in 2012 for $ 1 billion , has 300 million monthly users . A spokesperson for Instagram declined to comment to DailyMail.com about the developments . Benn told DailyMail.com : ' I ’ ve played a few of my last cards , and now I ’ m just going to wait for Facebook to play theirs . ' I have no idea how this entire ordeal is going to end , but at least I know that I helped make a handful of people ’ s lives easier–and I think that that is worth all of the trouble . ' Uploader for Instagram is already garnering positive reviews on the App store.One user wrote : 'For my job , we post eight to ten Instagram pictures a week that are first designed on the computer . 'So it 's always been a bit of a nuisance to transfer the image over to my phone then upload to Instagram . This app takes care of that '
$ 4.99 ( £3.24 ) 'Uploader for Instagram ' app was created by Caleb Benn . The teenager is currently making $ 675.70 ( £1,000 ) a day from the app . Instagram allegedly contacted Benn saying it violated terms of service . Facebook , which owns Instagram , says it restricts use of private API .