I Rebuilt Instagram in 48 Hours – Here’s What I Learned

48 ghante. Ek laptop. Ek coder. Aur ek crazy idea – Instagram jaisa app banana from scratch in just 2 days.

Haan, suna thoda filmy lag raha hoga, but itna hi thrilling bhi tha.

Main ek full-stack developer hoon jo mostly React, Firebase, aur Tailwind ke saath kaam karta hai. Pichle kuch time se mujhe lag raha tha ki mujhe apni skills ko ek naye level pe le jaana chahiye. Isliye maine socha – kyun na ek challenge liya jaye? And what’s better than trying to rebuild one of the most used apps in the world?

Why Instagram?

Instagram ek complete package hai – image uploads, real-time feed, likes/comments, user profiles, and authentication. Mujhe pata tha ki agar main iska even 40-50% bhi bana paya 48 hours mein, toh mujhe kaafi kuch seekhne milega.

Plus, yeh app banate time aapko front-end aur back-end dono ka solid exposure milta hai.

Stack I Used:

Frontend: React + Tailwind CSS

Backend: Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Storage)

Deployment: Vercel

Simple stack, lekin powerful. Time kam tha, so mujhe reliable tools chahiye the jo fast implementation allow karein.

Planning (Day 0 Prep)

Challenge start karne se ek din pehle, maine ek rough plan banaya. Kya features honge, kis sequence mein banenge:

Core Features:

Sign up / Login with Firebase Auth

Image Upload (Firebase Storage)

Feed with real-time updates

Like feature

Basic profile page

Bonus (agar time mila toh):

Comment system

Follow/Unfollow

Profile picture change

Time kaise divide kiya:

Day 1: Auth + Feed + Upload

Day 2: Likes + Profile + Polish + Deploy

Day 1 – Setting the Foundation

Sabse pehle maine ek basic React app scaffold kiya using Vite. Tailwind CSS set up kiya, dark/light theme add kiya (kyunki swag zaroori hai).

Firebase Auth Integration

Firebase Auth is like magic. Bas signInWithPopup aur createUserWithEmail likho aur kaam ho jata hai. Login with Google implement kiya taaki users ko sign up karne mein problem na ho.

Image Upload Feature

Firebase Storage is seriously underrated. Ek simple file input liya, image ko Firebase Storage mein upload kiya aur URL ko Firestore ke "posts" collection mein save kiya with timestamp, user info, etc.

Real-Time Feed

Ye feature banaate hi app mein jaan aa gayi. Firestore’s onSnapshot() function ka use karke real-time feed implement kiya. Jaise hi koi naya post karta, sab users ke feed instantly update ho jaate.

Day 1 end hua with basic auth, upload, and feed done. Kaafi productive din tha. Coffee ki madad se 2 AM tak kaam chala.

Day 2 – Polish and Additions

Subah uthte hi sabse pehle maine "like" system add kiya using Firestore subcollections. Har post ke saath ek "likes" array tha jisme userIds store ho rahi thi.

Basic Profile Page

Profile page banaya jahan user apne posts dekh sakta tha. Query mein filter lagaya:

where("userId", "==", currentUser.uid)

Boom. Personal feed ready.

Like Button Animation + Count

Framer Motion ka use karke thoda animation dala – jaise hi koi like karta, ek smooth heart pop-up hota. Small things that make big impact.

Polish and Deploy

Tailwind se responsive design fix kiya, loading spinners add kiye, error handling improve kiya.

Final deploy kiya on Vercel. Within seconds, the app was live.

What Went Wrong?

Firebase Storage ke file rules initially block kar rahe the uploads. Mujhe custom rules likhne pade.

Profile page mein filtering thoda tricky tha jab user logout karta tha.

Mobile view ka testing last minute mein kiya – thoda aur pehle kar leta toh better hota.

What Went Right?

Firebase + React = Perfect combo for fast prototyping.

Planning helped – without feature creep.

Tailwind ne UI banane mein kaafi time bachaya.

What I Learned

Build fast, fix later: MVP banana zyada important hota hai early stage mein. Pehle kaam kare, phir polish karein.

Real-time apps are fun! Firestore ka onSnapshot feature use karna addictive hai – jaise hi update karo, sab dikh jata hai.

Time-boxing helps: Jab aapko pata hota hai ki sirf 48 ghante hain, toh aap automatically zyada productive ho jaate ho.

Should You Try This Too?

Definitely! 24 ya 48 hour ka challenge lena aapki learning speed 10x kar sakta hai. Aap chaahe beginner ho ya intermediate – ek mini clone banana is the best way to learn full-stack dev.

Start simple:

Twitter clone

Notes app (like Notion)

Spotify UI with dummy data

WhatsApp Web clone

Aapko ek nayi appreciation milegi un tools ke liye jo hum roz use karte hain.

Final Thoughts + Demo

2 din ke andar maine ek working mini-Instagram build kiya. It’s not perfect, but it works – and I learned a lot.

Agar aap dekhna chahte ho ki maine kya banaya:

Live Demo: [your-link.vercel.app]

GitHub Repo: [github.com/yourrepo]

Agar aap bhi aisa kuch build karte ho, mujhe ping karo – I'd love to check it out!

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           ~shivam~