Instagram yesterday released their real-time updates API which allows other developers to integrate Instagram photos, tags and locations in their own apps. The API is already in action on a number of apps including Foodspotting, Momento and Instagre.at.

Over 2000 developers signed up for access to the API and some other popular apps and services such as Flipboard and About.me will soon be adding Instagram API into their products. However at this stage the API is read-only as Instagram works to ensure a smooth implementation of the API, which was only announced earlier this month. Instagram has a demo of what the API can achieve, with a dynamic web page updating as new photos are uploaded to Instagram.

One of the best implementation’s of the API yet is Instadrop, which is a simple creation by Shayne Sweeney that links your Instragram and DropBox profiles so that any photos you upload to Instagram get automatically uploaded to your DropBox account. Instagre.at, which we covered earlier this month is also a bit more fully featured now and as you can see in the image above, you can also view your own images in its really fluid web interface. Whilst the Foodspotting API works by adding any Instagram photos with the #food or #foodspotting tags to your Foodspotting account.

Instagram has become a massive success in the few months of its existence and despite only having an iPhone app, it has created a thriving community of photo-sharers around the world. As this API becomes adopted, and as uploading through the API becomes enabled sometime soon Instagram will surely become an even greater platform.

[Via DownloadSquad]