Instagram’s public API does not support direct messaging, so the only way this could have been achieved was to use the private API, which requires the same form of authentication as the mobile app (username and password).

Yep I understand, but it is open source and the source code is free for access so any code savvy individual can inspect it to see if anything dirty is going on in the background 🙂

Here’s a link to the source code https://github.com/ifedapoolarewaju/igdm

It makes use of Instagram’s private API. So it takes the credentials you pass and feeds it directly to the APi. No storage, nothing.

Yes it does, really hard to trust that without any history, endorsements, etc.

it requires you pass your instagram credentials yes. Your instagram username and password. Does this answer you question? 🙂

Does it require that we provide username/password or does it authenticate via Instagram API?

It has support for Linux, Mac, Windows, and it’s free.

Disclaimer: This app was built by yours truly. 🙂

Yeah. Unfortunately, Instagram goes out of their way to make this a difficult task. They want to keep you using the mobile app because that is how they make money and how they guarantee that you’re looking at the app and not just running it in the background. Instatray is a bit too expensive for my taste, and you’re right, Bluestacks isn’t that great either, but these two seem to be the only choices at the moment. – thank you for stopping by, Robin!