To warm up Instagram accounts at scale, start each new account at 2 likes a day and let the cap climb by 2 every day until it reaches 50, around day 25. No follows during that time. From day one the account also publishes 2 scheduled posts a day, and Human Behaviour Emulation fills the gaps with ordinary scrolling.
This guide shows the exact settings behind that ramp. They're the live configuration on our own fleet, 164 Instagram accounts on 20 real Android phones run by one operator, taken from the panel on 19 September 2026. Onimator is the software that drives the real Instagram app on Android phones, cloud phones and emulators, and IGBot is its Instagram module. Every setting below lives in IGBot.
This is the at-scale variant. The standard warm-up keeps week one passive and adds a tool each week. The Engage warm-up ramps sub-actions inside Engage over six weeks. This guide replaces the passive-only week with a very small like budget from day one, plus posting. If you prefer the passive week, run it first and start this ramp in week two.
The 30-Second Version
| Day | Daily like cap | Follows | Scheduled posts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | 10 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 20 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | 30 | 0 | 2 |
| 20 | 40 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | 50 | 0 | 2 |
Start at 2, add 2 a day, stop at 50. Post twice a day throughout. Keep follows off.
What do you need before you start?
One app clone per account. Each account lives in its own clone, with its own identity.
One IP per account. Accounts on the same phone never share an IP.
About 50 posts per account loaded into the scheduler, which covers the first 25 days at two a day.
A Timer set for every account. A new account arrives with Start and End at 0, which means it never runs. See How to Set Up Timers.
You can hand the setup to an AI agent. Onimator ships its own MCP server, so Claude Code, Codex or Gemini can configure the accounts, the tools and the schedule from a plain-language description. See How to Connect Claude Code to Onimator via MCP.
How many likes should a new Instagram account do on day one?
Two. Set Engage's daily like cap to 2 for a brand-new account.
Two likes won't grow anything, and that's fine. The point of the first week is to show that the account exists and does normal things, not to get results. A fresh account dropped straight into the settings of a two-year-old one (150 likes on day one) is the most common way to earn a "Try Again Later" by day two.
How fast should the like cap increase?
By 2 a day, every day, until it reaches 50. Turn on the like cap's auto-increment at +2 / day with a ceiling of 50.
A small, constant step means behaviour never jumps from one day to the next. A smooth curve looks like someone getting into the app. A sudden step looks like someone changing a setting.
Keep follows at zero for the whole ramp. Follows get the most scrutiny on new accounts. Add them only after the account has a month of history behind it.
Why should the account post during warm-up?
Because an account that only likes looks like a bot. With no posts and an empty grid, nothing about it suggests someone uses it. An account that posts looks like a profile someone keeps.
Load two posts a day into the Post Scheduler, weeks ahead, and let them publish on a natural rhythm rather than at the same minute every day.
Spoof shared content. If the same video or photo goes out on several accounts, run it through a spoofer first so every account uploads its own distinct file. A dozen accounts uploading a byte-identical file is an easy link to draw.
What are the Engage settings for the ramp?
Engage walks one source per cycle and decides what to do on each profile it visits, so the action changes from profile to profile instead of repeating one move on a loop. These are the live values:
| Setting | Value | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Run every | 30 min | How often Engage starts a new cycle |
| Max profile visits per day | 20 | Hard cap across all sources. The tool sleeps once it's reached |
| Visits auto-increment | +5 / day, until 100 | Only bumps on a day the cap was actually reached |
| Users per source per cycle | 30–40 | Random in range, then rotates to the next source |
| Likes per visited profile | 1–2 | Random in range on every visit |
| Daily like cap, day one | 2 | Where a brand-new account opens |
| Like cap auto-increment | +2 / day, until 50 | Raises the ceiling one step a day |
Two things to notice:
Almost everything is a range. 1–2 likes, 30–40 users. Fixed numbers repeat, and repetition is a pattern.
Visits only increase on days the cap was hit. If an account has a slow day, its ramp pauses instead of running ahead of what it actually did.
Keep the standalone Like, Follow, Comment and DM tabs off while Engage runs, or the daily totals end up higher than the ones you set. The Engage warm-up guide explains why.
What does Human Behaviour Emulation add?
It adds the browsing between actions. Real people don't open Instagram, like one post and close it. They scroll the feed, watch stories and sit on Explore for a while. Human Behaviour Emulation (HBE) does that between real tasks, so the ratio of actions to ordinary browsing looks like a person using the app.
| HBE setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum gap between runs | 15 min (at most four bursts an hour) |
| Home feed, posts per burst | 5–10 |
| Home feed, seconds per post | 3–5 s |
| Explore, posts per burst | 5–10 |
| Explore, seconds per post | 5–7 s |
| Chance to like a scrolled post | 50% |
| Daily scroll limit | 15 home feed + 15 Explore |
| Stop once every other tool is done | On |
Turn on "Stop once every other tool is done". Without it, HBE keeps scrolling on its own after the real work has finished, and an account that does nothing but scroll for hours is exactly the pattern HBE is there to hide.
How far below the documented limits is this ramp?
Far below. The ramp tops out at 50 likes a day, while the documented ceiling for an aged account is 200–500.
| Tool | New (under 30 days) | Warmed (30–90 days) | Aged (90+ days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Likes | 30–50 (auto-increment) | 100–200 | 200–500 |
| DMs (all modes combined) | 5–10 | 15–30 | 50–100 |
An hourly cap sits on top: 25 per hour for likes, first-time DMs and comments.
A new account is documented at 30–50 likes a day. This ramp starts at 2 and only reaches 50 near the end of the first month, as the account moves into the warmed tier.
Ceilings are not targets. They mark the edge. A warm-up that stays well inside them has room for a slow day, a flaky proxy or an unlucky review.
How do you run the ramp on hundreds of accounts?
Put each account in its own clone on a shared phone and split the day between them. Don't run them in parallel. Our fleet runs roughly eight accounts per phone.
164 accounts, 20 phones, about eight per device, each with its own clone and IP.
One run window per account. Accounts on a device take turns (round-robin scheduling) instead of competing for the phone at the same time.
One dashboard. Every account's run window, growth and per-tool counters sit on one screen, so a stalled account shows up at a glance.
At full ceiling the fleet comes to 8,200 likes a day (164 × 50) and 328 posts a day (164 × 2), or 9,840 posts a month.
The like figure is arithmetic, not a measurement. It's the per-account ceiling multiplied by the fleet. New accounts start at 2 and climb, so the fleet only reaches 8,200 once every account has finished its ramp. The posting figures hold from day one, because posting doesn't ramp.
Common Issues
The account does nothing. The Timer is still 0 to 0, or Engage has no source. See How to Fix an Account That Is Not Running.
Fewer likes than the cap. Normal early on. Visits are capped at 20 a day, and the like cap stops the tool the moment it's reached.
Daily totals higher than configured. A standalone Like or Follow tab is still on alongside Engage.
The visit count stopped rising. Visits only auto-increment on days the cap was reached. Check the source list: an exhausted source means fewer visits and a paused ramp.
FAQ
How long does it take to warm up an Instagram account?
This ramp takes about 25 days to reach a 50-likes-a-day cap, which lines up with the new-account tier (under 30 days). After that, limits can be raised gradually toward the warmed range.
Should a new Instagram account follow people during warm-up?
Not in this ramp. Follows stay at zero for the whole 25 days and come in only after the first month.
Should I post while warming up an Instagram account?
Yes. Two scheduled posts a day from day one makes the account look like a real profile instead of an empty shell that only likes.
How many Instagram accounts can I warm up on one phone?
We run roughly eight per device, each in its own clone with its own IP, with the day split between them rather than run in parallel.
Can an AI agent set this up for me?
Yes. Onimator's MCP server lets Claude Code, Codex or Gemini configure accounts, tools and schedules from plain-language instructions.
Tutorials & Support
- Engage Tool: every field explained
- Human Behaviour Emulation
- Post Scheduler
- How to Warm Up a New Instagram Account: the passive-first approach
- How to Warm Up an Account Using the Engage Tool: the six-week Engage ramp
- Glossary: Warm-up, Auto-increment, Human Behavior Emulation
Conclusion
Start at 2 likes, add 2 a day, stop at 50. Post twice a day from day one, keep follows off, and let HBE fill the gaps. Once it's configured, the ramp climbs on its own, and that's how one operator warms up 164 accounts: by starting slower, not by working harder.