Approving posts in SocialQ: the queue, missed posts and a sleeping Mac

Why does every post need approval?

Because SocialQ is built so that nothing goes out on your Instagram account without a person saying yes. Dropping a folder into Drive only proposes a post; approving it in the queue is what commits it to the schedule. That separation means a half-finished folder, a caption with a typo, or a file added to the wrong folder can sit in Drive without ever reaching your audience.

It also makes it safe to let other people — or an AI assistant using SocialQ’s built-in MCP connector — prepare posts, since the approval step stays with whoever is allowed to approve.

What can you do with a post in the approval queue?

You can review it, change it, and decide when it goes out. The queue shows posts with a week and day calendar view and an in-app Reel player, and approved posts show a live countdown such as “Goes live in 7 h 52 min”.

• Approve — commit the post to go out at its scheduled time.
• Edit caption or time — adjust the post without touching Drive by hand.
• Reschedule — move the post to a new time; SocialQ renames the Drive folder to match.
• Post now — publish immediately, after a confirm step so it can’t happen by accident.
• Unapprove — take an approved post back out of the schedule.

What happens if you don’t approve a post in time?

It becomes Missed, and it never posts late on its own. SocialQ deliberately does not publish an unapproved post at its scheduled time, and it does not quietly publish it later either — a post that was not approved when it was due stays unpublished until you decide what to do with it, for example by rescheduling it to a new time and approving it.

To make that rare, SocialQ warns you in advance: an hour before an unapproved post is due, it sends a Mac notification, and, if you have added a Resend API key, an email as well.

What happens if your Mac is asleep at post time?

SocialQ runs on your Mac, so it can only publish while the Mac is awake. If the Mac was asleep when an approved post was due, SocialQ still publishes it when the Mac wakes, as long as that is no more than 4 hours late. Beyond 4 hours the post is held as Missed rather than going out at a time you didn’t plan for.

That 4-hour limit is a trade-off: a short delay is usually better than skipping a post, but a Reel meant for 9:00 AM appearing at 3:00 PM is often worse than not posting it at all.

How does Wake to post work?

Wake to post is an optional setting that wakes your Mac 2 minutes before each approved post, so a sleeping Mac doesn’t delay or miss it. Setting it up asks for your Mac password once.

It is worth turning on if your Mac usually sleeps through the times you post — overnight or early-morning slots, for example — and you would rather not rely on the 4-hour catch-up window.

Can an AI assistant approve or reschedule posts?

Yes, if you connect one. SocialQ’s built-in connector uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP), so AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT can list the posts in your queue, write captions, approve posts and reschedule them. Those actions land in the same queue you see in the app, so an approval made by an assistant counts exactly like one you made yourself — only connect an assistant you are happy to give that permission to.

How do you keep track of what went out?

Look in Drive. After a post is published its folder moves into Posted; if publishing failed it moves into Failed. Together with the queue’s calendar view, that gives you a record of what was planned, what went out and what needs attention, without a separate report. See the folder layout guide for how those folders fit together.