Instagram is one of the mobile-first platforms but doesn’t seem to care about desktop. The app has a barebones web view and only recently started allowing people to sign up for the service. Until then, anyone without a smartphone couldn’t sign up for Instagram.
Things aren’t that bad anymore, you can definitely register online but still not be able to post photos from there. Even the official Instagram app for Windows does not allow you to post photos from all devices. It didn’t work on our Windows 10 laptop, but if you have a Windows 10 convertible with a camera, your experience may be different.
If you want to avoid using third-party apps, then you can try using Android emulators such as Bluestacks. You can install Instagram for Android via an emulator and start uploading pictures and videos just like you would on your smartphone. But it’s a very complicated way to do something that should be relatively simple.
Thankfully, there are third-party apps that can help you use Instagram on your desktop. This does mean that you are allowing third-party apps to access your Instagram account and some data, and if this makes you uncomfortable, you may just have to wait for Instagram to release official tools. If this is not an issue then you need to do the following.
- Download and install Gramblr on your PC and Mac.
- Open the app and create a Gramblr account. You will need to provide your Instagram username and password when registering.
- The application will open a new tab or window in your browser and prompt you to select an image.
- Now, click on the large box and select the file you want to upload or drag and drop the image or video.
- Click and drag the image to crop it.
- Hit the green save button.
- You can now apply filters or other effects, click green when done continue button.
- Now write a title and add your hashtag.
- Below the image, you can also tag people by entering their Instagram username.
- Click send.
- The image or video will now be posted to your account. For videos, you can even choose a cover image when uploading.
This is how you post content to Instagram from your PC or Mac. The process is fairly simple and works reliably on both platforms. Gramblr even lets you schedule postings, but note that your computer must be on when uploading.
While Gramblr will serve most users, if you prefer, you can use a Chrome extension to get the job done. Of course, you’ll need Google Chrome if you don’t already have it. Follow these steps to use Instagram on desktop with the Instagram From Computer extension:
- Install Instagram from your computer extension.
- Click the computer icon next to the three vertical dots icon in the upper right corner.
- This will open a new webpage in a new tab.
- Enter your Instagram username and password here, as well as a caption for the image.
- Click Select file and upload pictures.
- Now click on green send button to upload pictures.
- Once the progress bar on the right reaches 100%, your photo will appear on your Instagram feed.
If you want to use Instagram on your desktop, these two tools will get the job done. If you have a Mac, you can use paid tools like Uplet (Rs 620), which offers a nice (if not fancy) interface without having to edit any filters or control things like video cover images.
While the official smartphone app still offers the best Instagram experience, if you must upload images from your computer, these are the best methods we could find. Do you know of any other good alternatives to Instagram for desktop? Let us know in the comments.
For more tutorials, head to our how-to section.
