Instagram is insanely popular, but it’s never really had a non-smartphone app. There’s no official iPad app. And we didn’t even have a functioning website until recently. If you wanted to post photos to Instagram, for your personal or business account, you always had to go to your smartphone.
But now there’s a workaround for posting photos to Instagram from your Mac using Safari thanks to Instagram officially introducing the feature for uploading photos in their mobile website. All we have to do is change the User Agent in Safari to iPhone and we’re good to go.
How to Switch User Agent in Safari
We’ll be taking Safari as an example but you can do the same using Chrome, Firefox or Opera.
Step 1: In Safari, click on the Safari menu bar button and select Preferences.
Step 2: Go to the Advanced section and enable the Show Develop Menu in menu bar.
Step 3: You’ll now see a new Develop option in the menu bar. Click on it, select User Agent and then switch to iPhone.
How to Post Photos to Instagram from Mac
Step 1: In Safari, open instagram.com and login.
Step 2: From the Develop menu bar item, select User Agent -> Safari – iOS 10 – iPhone.
Step 3: Now resize your browser to make it narrower, this will make the mobile layout look better.
Step 4: Click on the Camera button that’s dead in the center in the bottom toolbar.
Step 5: From the file selection popup, select the image you want to post.
Step 6: You’ll now see a preview of the image. From here, you don’t have any editing option. The only option is to rotate the image, or to post it as is, or as a square. Once you’re happy with the image, tap on Next.
Step 7: On the next page, you’ll see an option to write a caption. You don’t have an option to tag people or places, or sharing options. Once you’re written your caption, click on Share and your photo will be posted.
A Better Way to Post to Instagram from Mac
This workaround is an Ok solution. But it doesn’t have the editing and sharing features we are used to. If you have multiple accounts, or you manage multiple business accounts, and you want to post to them from your Mac, it might be worth looking into Flume. It’s a beautiful app for viewing and posting to Instagram. And it also Although, posting privileges require a $10 update.
Download: Flume for Mac
How do you use Instagram? Will this workaround make your Instagram workflow easier? Share with us in the comments below.
