Instagram, the ever-pop app that allows you lot to share photos and videos with your friends, family and followers isn't limited to simply your phone or tablet. While there's no official app available, we can bear witness y'all how to use Instagram on a Mac.

The biggest complaint people have with using Instagram on the Mac is that while you lot tin can browse images, and fifty-fifty like and annotate on them, you lot tin can't upload images. And then in this article, we will show you a couple of workarounds that allow you to upload images, videos and carousel posts to Instagram from your Mac.

The Instagram web experience

While in that location's no official Instagram for Mac app bachelor to download, users of the social network do have the option of heading to Instagram.com on a Mac. The bones spider web app gives you access to your main Instagram feed, allowing you to browse through photos and videos that friends have posted besides as liking and commenting.

Instagram rolled out Stories support presently later on launching the spider web app, allowing you lot to view the temporary posts on the big screen, and in January 2020, the company started testing support for Direct Messages via the web app. It's only available for a small pct of users right now, but it should hopefully be rolled out worldwide soon.

There'due south no denying that the Instagram website has been vastly improved since it start launched, but there'snevertheless no native way to post images or videos either to your feed or to your Instagram Story...

How to upload photos to Instagram from a Mac

While y'all can't use the standard Instagram website to upload photos on a Mac, at that place is a way to 'flim-flam' Instagram into thinking y'all're accessing the site via an iPhone, which does let for photo uploads. We'll show you how to brand Instagram think you are on an iPhone so you tin can upload images.

Step one: Make Instagram think you're on an iPhone

First things first, before nosotros can fool Instagram into letting us upload an paradigm we demand to brand it think we are in fact using an iPhone.

  1. Open up Safari and head to Safari > Preferences > Advanced.
  2. Brand sure Prove Develop Menu in Card Bar is toggled on.
  3. Head to the Instagram website and log in to your business relationship.
  4. And then select Develop (from the menu bar) > User Agent > Safari - iOS 12.i.three - iPhone (or whatever version is newest).

Now the Instagram website should automatically reload (manually refresh if non) and display the mobile version of the site, complete with upload functionality.

Step ii: Upload photos to Instagram from your Mac

Now, to use your Mac to upload your photos:

  1. Tap the + icon on the toolbar at the lesser of your Instagram feed.
  2. Browse for the image you lot'd similar to post, select it and click Cull.
  3. Y'all tin expand the cropped square image by tapping the arrow icon on the bottom-left of the prototype preview, and tapping the right icon allows you to rotate the photo.
  4. Y'all can besides click the Filter tab to browse for, and apply, a filter to your image.
  5. Once y'all've edited your photo and are prepare to post, click Next.
  6. Add a caption, location and/or tags and you're ready to mail to your feed.
  7. Hit Share to upload the epitome.

Step 3: Upload photos to Instagram Stories from your Mac

  1. Select the Your Story icon in the superlative left.
  2. Browse for the image you'd like to mail service and double click or select Choose.
  3. You lot'll then come across a preview of the image (and potentially a request for Instagram to know your location).
  4. You can add together stamps or draw on your prototype using the tools.
  5. If you'd similar to add together text to your paradigm click on the Aa in the peak right. Whatever you type will appear in the centre of the image once you select Done.
  6. In one case you have input your text and click on Add to your story.
  7. If y'all don't want to mail service the prototype click on the X in the top left. You can cull to Keep or Discard the image.
  8. When yous are happy with the image click on Add to your story.

The drawbacks of using this technique to mail service to Instagram Stories? It works all-time with Portrait images (landscape gets cropped). Nor can you upload videos this way.

Those are large drawbacks, but there are workarounds available.

How to upload Instagram photos via Vivaldi

1 of the lesser-known Mac web browsers is Vivaldi and information technology just so happens that you can postal service images to Instagram using Vivaldi without any of the complications described above.

Y'all can add Mobile as a web console in Vivaldi and always utilize that setting when yous visit Instagram.

Here's how:

  1. Download the Vivaldi browser. Nosotros had to install version 2.viii.
  2. Go to Instagram.com and log in.
  3. Click on the + icon in the bar on the left.
  4. The Instagram URL will appear in the box under Add together Web Console.
  5. Now click on the Web Panel and a page volition open up on the left that shows the mobile version of the Instagram website.
  6. According to Vivaldi, you lot should be able to click on the camera icon and add together images to your Instagram Story or click the plus icon to add together photos to your Instagram feed.

Best Instagram apps for Mac

There is a handful of 3rd-party Instagram apps available that offer a range of abilities, from existence able to browse your feed to checking your notifications to posting images from your Mac onto the social network.

Uplet

While Uplet doesn't offer the ability to browse your Instagram feed natively, it does offer features that power-users may be interested in. Uplet is a simple app available for download that allows users to drag and drib photos & videos and majority upload them to Instagram in a few seconds - but there's more than.

Yous can edit each photograph and video like on Instagram, and add together individual captions to each photo. Information technology also has the crop option featured in the app, allowing users the ability to upload either the original or square-size photo.

While this isn't for casual users, it allows those die-hard Instagram fans to upload multiple posts all at once. Our only complaint? Information technology is yet to support the new Instagram multi-photo post option, although nosotros imagine back up volition exist coming in the well-nigh future.

While it was one time a standalone app, Uplet is now exclusively available as role of the Setapp Mac app suite at $9.99 a month.

Bluestacks Android Emulator

Another style to upload photos to Instagram from a Mac is an emulator. Ane of the well-nigh consequent and trusted emulators we've come beyond is Bluestacks, a free Android emulator that tin be downloaded here.

How to use Instagram on Mac - Bluestacks

One time downloaded, you'll demand to ready an emulated Android device. For this, yous'll need a Google account and a Bluestacks account, and you'll need to link the 2 inside Bluestacks. Once that's done, you can apply the Android emulator to navigate to the Play Store (which is Android's equivalent of the App Store) and download Instagram.

You can then sign in to your Instagram account, and utilize the app every bit you would if y'all were using a mobile device.

On a related note, hither'south how to upload a full-size photo on iPhone to Instagram. And if you'd rather use the social network on a tablet, take a read of How to get Instagram on iPad.

Annotation: Nosotros featured Flume equally a groovy option for Mac users at 1 time, but the app has since stopped operation and the developer has gone dark, and then we'd recommend avoiding Flume until the programmer fixes the problems.