diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 25ed942..28e18bf 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 * added progress bar for long running queries (#141) by @chainsawriot
 * added 429 check (#144)
 * fixed #146 by adding a confirmation step for `auth_setup(browser = FALSE)`(#147)
+* fixed #149 by removing quotes around the inputted instance name though `auth_setup(instance = "")` (#150) by @thisisnic
 
 # rtoot 0.3.3
 
diff --git a/R/auth.R b/R/auth.R
index b319f58..a898e88 100644
--- a/R/auth.R
+++ b/R/auth.R
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@ auth_setup <- function(instance = NULL, type = NULL, name = NULL, path = NULL, c
     while (is.null(instance) || instance == "") {
         instance <- rtoot_ask(prompt = "On which instance do you want to authenticate (e.g., \"mastodon.social\")? ", pass = FALSE)
     }
-    if(quoted_string(instance)){
-        instance <- substr(instance, 2, nchar(instance)-1)
-    }
+    instance <- process_instance(instance) #149
     client <- get_client(instance = instance)
     if (!isTRUE(type %in% c("public", "user"))) {
         type <- c("public", "user")[rtoot_menu(choices = c("public", "user"), title = "What type of token do you want?", verbose = TRUE)]
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 7c78e43..6a0ef39 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -267,6 +267,13 @@ break_process_request <- function(api_response, retryonratelimit = FALSE, verbos
 }
 
 ## a function to determine if input to readline has been quoted or not
-quoted_string <- function(x){
-    (grepl("^\"", x) && grepl("\"$", x)) || (grepl("^'", x) && grepl("'$", x))
+is_quoted_string <- function(x) {
+    grepl("^[\"'].+[\"']$", x)
+}
+
+process_instance <- function(x) {
+    if (!is_quoted_string(x)) {
+        return(x)
+    }
+    gsub("^['\"]+|['\"]+$", "", x)
 }
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c38fc09..bfc06c7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ You can post toots with:
 post_toot(status = "my first rtoot #rstats")
 ```
 
-It can also include media and alt_text.
+It can also include media and alt\_text.
 
 ``` r
 post_toot(
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-auth_create_token.R b/tests/testthat/test-auth_create_token.R
index 72e5a21..c4fc89b 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-auth_create_token.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-auth_create_token.R
@@ -4,3 +4,11 @@ test_that("defensive", {
   expect_error(create_token(iris), "client is not an object of type rtoot_client")
   expect_error(create_token(fake_client, type = "elon"), "should be one of")
 })
+
+test_that("test for #149", {
+    expect_equal(process_instance("\"fosstodon.org\""), "fosstodon.org")
+    expect_equal(process_instance("\'fosstodon.org\'"), "fosstodon.org")
+    expect_equal(process_instance("\'\'fosstodon.org\'\'"), "fosstodon.org")
+    expect_equal(process_instance("fosstodon.org"), "fosstodon.org")
+    expect_equal(process_instance("fosst\"odon.org"), "fosst\"odon.org")
+})