How to use Instagram on PC

Would you like to post some photos you took with your digital camera on Instagram, but the mere idea of ​​having to carry the photos from your computer to your smartphone gives you hives? From time to time you would like to access Instagram even from your PC, so that you can view the latest content posted by your friends and comment on them, but you don’t know how to do it? Don’t worry, it’s child’s play!

Instagram offers a web version of its service, which is accessible from any program to browse the Internet and works on any device, even computers. Through this web version you can view your friends’ photos, videos and stories, comment on them, add them to favorites and much more.

You can also search for new content, edit your profile and – through a little trick that I will show you shortly – even post photos on Instagram from your PC. The same goes for the official social network application available for PCs with Windows 10. Don’t believe it? Then take five minutes of free time and read on. We are going to find out, together, how to use Instagram on PC.

Index

• How to use Instagram on PC
  • How to use Instagram Web
  • How to use Instagram for Windows 10
  • How to emulate Instagram on PC

How to use Instagram on PC

If you agree, let’s get straight to the point and see how Instagram is used on your PC, analyzing more closely the functioning of its Web version, its application for Windows 10 and – if these solutions are not enough for you – the use of some software to emulate the Android version of Instagram on your computer.

How to use Instagram Web

If you want to know how to use Instagram Web, that is the version of Instagram that can be used via browser, all you have to do is connect to the Instagram.com site, type in the appropriate text fields the telephone number, username or e-mail and password associated with your account and click the Login button to complete the login. If you have previously activated two-factor authentication, please also enter the code in the appropriate text field and click on the Confirm button.

If, on the other hand, you usually log into Instagram using your Facebook account and not a combination of username and dedicated password, you can log in using the login credentials of the famous social network by clicking on the Login with Facebook button.

If when you connect to Instagram, the site “recognizes” you automatically (as you have already saved your Facebook login credentials in your browser or you have previously logged in to Instagram.com ), all you have to do is confirm your identity by pressing the appropriate button and start using the service.

Once logged in, a page will open with the latest photos posted by users you follow on Instagram and the usual interaction options: the little heart icon to add “likes” , the button depicting the comic to read and send comments, the airplane symbol to send the post via Direct.

The icon (…) at the top right, on the other hand, if clicked, allows you to embed the selected photo on external sites (via HTML code), share the content on other platforms, report any inappropriate content, copy the post link, etc..

To view a photo in a larger format and read the complete list of comments left under it, click on the publication date of the post, at the bottom left (eg 11 hours ago for a photo published 11 hours ago). By clicking instead on the name of the user who posted the photo, you can access his Instagram profile, while by clicking on the name of the location where the photo was taken (where present), you can view a list of all recent photos posted on Instagram from that location.

To search for new photos on Instagram you can use the search bar at the top, thanks to which you can find user profiles, photos linked to a specific hashtag (words or phrases preceded by the symbol #that are used to index the contents on the platform, as you I explained in this other article ) and photos taken in a certain location.

For example, typing Salvatore Aranzulla results will appear that will allow you to find my personal profile on Instagram ( salvatorearanzulla ) and the photos they have as hashtag #salvatorearanzulla. Similarly, looking for the name of a city, for example Milan, you will find both the photos taken in that location and the photos that contain the hashtag #Milano.

Another way to search for new photos on Instagram.com is to view the list of suggested profiles, which is a list of users to follow that Instagram automatically prepares for us based on the profiles we already follow. To view this list, you have to do is click on the little house at the top right (if you are not already in the home Instagram), and click on the item Show all located on the right at the words Tips you.

Once you have viewed the web page relating to the profile of a specific Instagram account, you can start following him by clicking on the Follow button located next to his username and, if it is a public profile, browse all the photos he has published on his account having the opportunity to comment on them and add them to your favorites, after having enlarged them by clicking on the relative thumbnails. In the case of a private profile, to do this you will first have to wait for the user to accept your request to follow him.

As for the stories, the Web version of Instagram allows you to view and interact with them: just go to the home of the social network (by clicking on the house icon at the top right) and click on the profile photos of the users who they have created new ones. More info here.

As already mentioned above, the Web version of Instagram also allows you to manage your account and information related to it. In fact, by clicking on the thumbnail of your profile photo and selecting the word Profile, you can go to your profile.

Once on your profile, by clicking on the Edit profile button (top right) you can change all the data relating to it: name, username, website, biography, e-mail, telephone number, etc.

From the menu for editing the profile, by selecting the options in the left sidebar, you can also change the password of your profile (by clicking on the Change password item ), manage applications and services associated with your account (by clicking on Apps and websites ), adjust preferences related to receiving information emails from Instagram ( Email and SMS ), and much more.

From the same menu you can even deactivate or delete your account, but I dealt with this better in my tutorial on how to delete Instagram accounts.

As well as the smartphone app, the Web version of Instagram also allows you to view all the likes, comments and other notifications related to your photos. How? Simple, by clicking on the heart-shaped icon located at the top right and consulting the box that opens.

If you want to know how to use Direct Instagram on PC, using the Web version of the photographic social network, know that it is very simple: just click on the paper airplane symbol located at the top right, click on the Send message button located on the right, search in the To text field for the username of the person you want to send a message to and click on Next.

In the new page opened, type the message you want to send to the person in the text field Write a message … located at the bottom right, and give Send on the keyboard to forward it. By clicking on the smiley face icon on the left of the message typing bar, you can call up the emojis; by clicking on the postcard symbol on the right, instead, it is possible to send an image by uploading it from the computer.

As for the possibility of posting photos, you have to know that the operation is feasible, albeit using some “magheggio”. What you have to do, in fact, is to “deceive” the Instagram site and make it believe that you are visiting it from a smartphone or tablet. How? Simple, by changing the user agent of the browser in use.

If you have never heard of it, the user agent is a string that the browser communicates to the sites you visit and that identifies both the program and the system in use. Well, by changing this string, it is possible to “deceive” the sites you visit and make them believe they are using a smartphone or tablet instead of a PC. The operation is very simple to put into practice and is reversible at any time. To learn more and find out in detail how to change the user agent of your browser, follow the instructions below.

• Chrome– install the User-Agent Switcher extension, open a new browser tab and visit the Instagram site. Then click on the sheet icon with the black mask located at the top right and select the user agent of a portable device (e.g. iOS> iPad ) from the menu that opens. To restore the default user agent of Chrome (this is necessary after using Instagram in mobile mode), select the Chrome> Default item from the User-Agent Switcher menu.
• Firefox– install the User-Agent Switcher extension, open a new browser tab and visit the Instagram site. Then click on the globe icon located at the top right, in the box that opens, select an icon from the Select a mobile device section (e.g. the Apple or Android icon ) and reload the page. To restore the default Firefox user agent (required after using Instagram in mobile mode), click again on the globe icon and select the check mark at the bottom of the box that opens.
• Edge– after having already gone to the Instagram home page, click on the button (…) located at the top right and select the items Other tools> Development tools from the menu that opens. Select the Emulation tab from the box that appeared at the bottom (the smartphone icon next to the tablet on the left). To restore the browser’s default user agent just open a new tab.
• Safari– open the Safari> Preferences menu located at the top left, select the Advanced tab from the window that opens and put the check mark next to the Show Development menu option in the menu bar (at the bottom of the window). Now visit the Instagram site and select one of the items related to Safari – iOS from the menu Development> User-agent. To restore the browser’s default user agent just open a new tab.

Now you can proceed with uploading the content from your PC. Then click on the (+) icon located at the bottom center of the main Instagram page and select the content you want to post on your profile.

At this point, use the icon with the two arrows located on the left to activate or deactivate the zoom of the image and/or the icon with the two circular arrows located on the right to rotate the photo. By clicking on the Filters tab, located at the bottom left, you can even apply presets to the image.

To conclude, click on the Next item located at the top right, type a description and the hashtags you want to associate with the photo in the appropriate text field and click on the Share button to post the content.

As an alternative to the aforementioned solution to publish photos and videos on Instagram PC you can take advantage of the tool Creator Studio of Facebook, which is available for those who are holding a company Instagram account connected to a page Facebook.

Through the tool in question it is, in fact, possible to post multimedia contents on your Instagram feed (and also on IGTV ), choosing them from the memory of your computer. In this regard, for more information about it, I suggest you read my tutorial in which I tell you about its operation in more detail.

It is not possible, however, to create new stories: at the moment, this possibility is relegated to the mobile app only.

How to use Instagram for Windows 10

As already mentioned above, Instagram has long since released an application for Windows 10 that allows you to take advantage of all the features of the online version of the service. If you want to use Instagram for Windows 10, know that the application in question works the same way as its web counterpart. In this chapter, therefore, I will just show you how to install it on your PC: as for the use, you can refer to what I have already told you, since there are no differences from Instagram Web.

To download Instagram for Windows 10, link to this page and, if necessary, click on the Get button to allow the opening of the Microsoft Store. Then click on the Get button in the store and wait for the application to be installed. At the end of the process, click on the Start button to open it.

In the window that opened, click on the Accept button to accept Instagram cookies and, after logging in , use the application following the same instructions I gave you in the previous chapter.

How to emulate Instagram on PC

A third way to use the desktop photo social network is to emulate Instagram on your PC , using software that allows you to emulate Android on your computer and then run the Instagram app for smartphones directly from your PC.

There are several Android emulators, both for Windows and macOS, even free, and they allow you to run the Instagram app without any problem. One of the most popular emulators out there is BlueStacks. To use it, go to its official website and click on the green Download Bluestacks button (top right).

When the download is complete, if you use Windows, open the .exe file you obtained and press the Yes, Install Now buttons and wait for the procedure to be completed (it may take a few minutes).

If you are using a Mac, on the other hand, open the .dmg file you obtained, double-click on the BlueStacks Installer icon visible on the screen and, if you are asked to confirm the opening of the application, do it by pressing the button Open. Next, click the Install Now button, type the macOS admin password and click the Install Assistant button.

In conclusion, click on the button Open system preferences / Open Security and privacy, click on the Allow button, click on the padlock symbol (at the bottom left of the window that opened), type the macOS administrator password again and click the Unblock button.

Now, after you install and start BlueStacks, log in with your Google account: Click on the item Sign up Login, specifically in the appropriate text fields l ‘ e-mail address and password of your account and press the buttons Next and accept to go forward.

Once this is done, start the Play Store by clicking on its icon located in the Home section, search for the Instagram app using the appropriate search bar, click on the relevant result and start the installation of the same, by clicking on the Install button.

For the rest, there isn’t much to say: since the Instagram app interface is exactly what you see in the Android app, you can use it as you already do on your mobile device. More info here.