Instagram is designed primarily as a service to be used with mobile devices. But there are all sorts of reasons you might want to post photos from a desktop or laptop computer rather than a phone. You can, of course, send the photo from your computer to your phone and upload from there, but that gets cumbersome pretty quickly.
There are, however, ways to post directly from a computer, and I’ve been putting together a series of guides for several good methods. Some use third-party apps and services. Some use emulators. This is a guide on how to use a regular web browser like Chrome or Safari without needing to buy a separate app or install a browser plugin.
Using Instagram with a Desktop Web Browser
You can access the Instagram website with a regular web browser on a desktop or laptop, but as you’ve not doubt already found, it’s a stripped down version.
When you’re logged into your account through the website on a desktop browser, you can view photos, like photos, and even comment on photos, but one thing you can’t do is post new photos. There’s no way to upload them–the usual camera icon isn’t there, like this:
But there’s a way to alter the behavior of your browser to make Instagram think that you’re accessing it through a mobile device. It’s taking advantage of two things. The first is that Instagram now has a special version it shows to mobile devices that includes the upload function. The second is that you can convince the Instagram site that you’re accessing it from a mobile device even if you’re using a desktop web browser. It’s using what’s known as user agent emulation or user agent spoofing (sometimes just UA spoofing). When you access the site with this method, it looks very similar, but you’ll notice that it now includes the camera icon for creating new posts:
I’ve put together guides on how to do it with the major browsers; they’re below.
Limitations
Before we get to the how-tos for specific browsers, it’s worth mentioning some limitations of this method.
This method emulates a mobile device accessing the Instagram website. It is not the same thing as using something like Bluestacks to emulate running the Instagram app.
That’s important because not every feature of the Instagram app is available through the Instagram mobile website. You can upload a photo and add a caption, but there are some basic Instagram features that aren’t available through the web interface.
Filters. You don’t have the option to apply filters.
Multi-photo posts. Instagram recently added the option to include multiple images or videos in a single post. That’s not available through the website–you can only upload one image at a time to create a single post.
In-photo tagging. You can still tag someone in the comment section, but you can’t tag someone within the photo.
Editing captions after publishing. To edit a post’s caption after it has been published you’ll still need to use the mobile app.
User Agent Spoofing with Instagram
Basically, the user agent is a piece of code that the browser sends to the website to tell it information about the browser and operating system you’re using. If you have your own website and have used something like Google Analytics to track what browsers your site’s visitors are using, that’s where that information comes from. In case you’re interested, here’s an example of some of the information that’s sent to websites I might visit when using Chrome on a Mac:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_12_5) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/58.0.3029.81 Safari/537.36
The method used here changes that information to match a browser on an IOS or Android device. And that, in turn, tells the Instagram site to display its new mobile version.
Modern browsers have a way to test what a site looks like with different devices and browsers. It’s designed mainly to be able to test responsive designs to see how they look on mobile devices. And it’s a feature that can be used here to make the Instagram website things that we’re accessing it through mobile device rather than a desktop browser.
I’ll go through it with some of the major browsers below. I’m doing it on Mac; Windows versions are very similar.
For all of these, log into your Instagram account through the web browser first (technically it doesn’t matter whether you’re logged in first or not; it just simplifies these guides if you are).
Posting to Instagram with Chrome
Go to View > Developer > Developer Tools.
That’s going to open the Developer Tools panel. Depending on the layout of your screen and browser, it might pop up in a separate tab or might be at the bottom of your active tab. It doesn’t matter which.
You’ll see a lot of code, menus, and tabs. For this, you can safely ignore nearly all of it. Look for the small icon at top left that shows a phone and tablet (yes, that’s what those are….).
Click on it. The browser window will now transform to the dimensions of a specific smartphone or tablet.
You can change what phone using the drop-down menu, although it really doesn’t matter too much which preset you use here so long as it’s a standard mobile device.
So it now looks just like the mobile app. And, importantly, you can now see the camera icon. So you can use it just like the mobile app–use the camera icon to create a new post by browsing for a new photo and uploading it.
Posting to Instagram with Safari
Go to Develop > User Agent > Safari – iOS 10 – iPhone.
If you don’t see the “Develop” option in the menu, you can enable it by going to Preferences > Advanced and checking the box at the bottom for “Show Develop menu in menu bar.”
The page should refresh and show the camera icon at the top, like this:
Posting to Instagram with Firefox
It is possible to do this on Firefox, but it involves a bit more setup, and it’s easier to use one of the other browsers listed here if you can.
That’s because Firefox does things a little differently. You can very easily change the viewport size (Tools > Web Developer > Responsive Design View), but that doesn’t actually spoof the user agent, and while the site will be sized for the mobile version you won’t have the camera icon to post new photos.
The easiest way to spoof the user agent in Firefox is to use a plugin. Do a search for something like “firefox user agent overrider” for several options.
It’s also possible to do it without using plugins, but it’s a hidden option and involves editing the browser’s config file. And editing the config file involves some risk of screwing things up. If you want to go ahead, you can find a useful guide here.
Posting to Instagram with Microsoft Edge / Internet Explorer
Press F12 to open Developer Tools.
Find the Emulation tab and choose a mobile device from the list of options.
Other Browsers
The better modern browsers have some variation of this kind of development mode user agent emulation, but I haven’t tested it on every browser–I’m focusing mainly on the most common (thanks to user agents, I know that 92 percent of visitors to my site use either Chrome, Safari, or Firefox, with the remaining 8 percent split among various other browsers).
If it doesn’t work on your browser, Chrome is probably the simplest multi-OS option. Or if you’re using a Mac, Safari works just as well.
Troubleshooting
This is a running list of troubleshooting ideas that I’ll add to as users report issues with the upload/camera icon not becoming visible.
- Can’t see the camera icon. If you’re using Firefox (or another browser not specifically mentioned above), make sure you’re not using the Firefox function that only changes the display port. It’s a two-step process on Firefox, and you’ll need to change the user agent either with the manual method (link above) or a user agent spoofing plugin.
- Can’t see the camera icon. After you’ve changed the user agent, refresh the page. I’ve found it usually does that itself, but it’s possible that it might have done that. It’s also potentially possible for browser caching to be showing you a non-refreshed version, so you could try clearing the browser cache and then reloading.
- Don’t have the Develop menu in Safari. If you don’t see the “Develop” option in the menu, you can enable it by going to Preferences > Advanced and checking the box at the bottom for “Show Develop menu in menu bar.”
Bubsir says
Thanks, Had to install Itunes on my Windows 7 (64) machine after I told Instagram to work as an IPhone 6+ . Now I’ve managed to post a few meaningless pics out of Chrome!!!
Mark Gichrist says
THIS IS GREAT! — until…
I did this on a Mac with Chrome about a week ago (Aug. 28, 2017) and it worked just fine for a few days, and then the camera icon disappeared. I guess this is the problem shown in comments above, but I can’t tell if they are current or years old without dates. I just can’t believe I would have the luck to learn this trick just a few days before Instagram blocked it.
Oh, I can get it to work on Safari.
David says
They’re recent. It’s only in the past few weeks or so that it seems to be misbehaving in Chrome. Still working for me in Safari.
Kathleen says
THANK YOU!! That’s wild. You just saved me from having a work project be a complete disaster! Worked for me on Chrome on a PC.
Kamahus says
Hi, does this method not violate IG’s terms of services? I’m worried if I will be charged shadow banned. Perhaps your experience can help to answer this question. Thanks
David says
Well, I’m not a lawyer and I don’t work for Instagram, but just as a user of the service it doesn’t seem to me to violate the restrictions against automated posting. The terms of service I’ve seen address automated and programmatic posting, but I’ve not seen anything to say that the uploads have to be done from a mobile device specifically. If that were the case, it would simple for them to remove the uploading functionality from their own website and make it only work from their official mobile-only app. But, as I said, I’m not in any position to give an official interpretation of the rules, so use at your own risk.
Mira says
It appears they’ve completely changed their browser layout since this was made and none of these methods appear to be working. There are no buttons whatsoever now. :-/
David says
Thanks for the tip. I’ve just tested quickly now and found the same thing. Not sure where the change is being made but hope to investigate further soon.
David says
I just did a quick test with Safari (on Mac), and it’s still working fine for me with this method. For some reason it’s not working on Chrome for me anymore, but I haven’t yet figured out why.
JAne says
Hi David – I too am on a Mac – go to User Agent and all the buttons are highlighted out. I can see IOS 10 but highlighted out. So so so so frustrating!
Any tips?
Grrrrrrh
Thank Jane
Sunny Angel says
I had this issue, go to the url bar and delete “hl./” or whatever is after instagram.com and then it worked
webmaster says
Thank you!
Kofo Are says
It worked, thank you so much!
jennalyn says
thanks for sharing this those tips! i did try it and it works smoothly!
PS: how can i link my Instagram Account in my Facebook account?
David says
Here are Facebook’s instructions on how to do that.
Cass says
Does this feature only work with Mac?
I’ve been trying it on my PC and been having problems just getting the mobile version to stay enabled?
I go to Developer Tools, click the mobile icon and choose the device like you’ve shown but as soon as I go to exit the Developer Tools menu, my view returns to normal. I’ve tried working with the Developer Tools menu open and that doesn’t work so I’m wondering if it’s a compatibility issue or if I’m doing something wrong… From the Developer Tool menu I can see the “Upload Photo” option and clicking it opens my file directory, however after submitting a photo nothing happens.
Gerard says
Doesn’t work with vidoe, even if it’s the right codec (h264) and the right length. Any tips on how to upload the videos?
Raha says
I followed the steps of using Chrome (but not on a Mac). It did transform the screen into mobile screen but there is no camera icon!!!???
David says
From what others have reported, it might be that Instagram has to activate it on their side for your account. I don’t have any information on how or when they’re doing that, unfortunately.
Rock says
I opted iPhone 5 model and that worked!
Hannah says
That happened to me, do all the steps as shown then when you’re done (and you still have the developer tools bar showing) refresh your page. Then at the bottom it should show a camera icon click on it and choose your picture, the rest you should know. If the camera icon doesn’t show up when you refresh try refreshing again and if that doesn’t work then I unfortunately don’t know how to help you. :(
Lydia says
absolute lifesaver!!!
Jennifer Collins says
Brilliant! Thank you so much for this info!
A Aderinto says
Absolutely brilliant post. Thanks for this.
For a while I had been in search of a cheap/affordable method to achieve this.
Urs says
For me your procedure works fine, but for my wife it doesn’t work. We tried it on the same MacBook, several browsers. It seems indeed that it depends on the account (my wife has created an Instagram account three days ago, mine is a lot older).
David says
Interesting. Thanks for reporting back. Sounds like it does indeed have to be activated on accounts on Instagram’s side of things.
Ben S. says
Same thing happened for my wife and I using firefox on two different computers…ultimately it seems that maybe the difference is whether or not an account is “private” or not…private ones seem to not show the camera but “public” ones show the camera on the same machine/browser combo.
Chris says
No longer works with Chrome as far as I can tell. No camera icon no matter what I do.
David says
That’s odd. Tested just now and working for me in Chrome 58.0.3029.81 on Mac.
Mo says
Same here. In the audit section it says repeatedly “blocked by client”. So I guess, Instagram has been able to figure it out and change their code. At least that’s what I assume this is supposed to mean.
Rachel B in Alaska says
This worked for me. Thank you so much. I do a lot of Instagram posts for work, both at the office and when I am out and about. You saved me a lot tedious steps when I am trying to use it at work. Thank you!
David says
Glad it’s useful!
Autumn Duchess says
It worked for me! Used developer on Chrome.
David says
Glad to hear it!
NikB says
Didn’t work for me in Safari. I found the Developer page and followed all instructions. Refreshed the page, emptied the cache, and still no go. Thanks anyway!
Dortega says
Thank you!! I definitely am not a developer or coder, but I hate giving these apps access to my entire photo library whether its on my phone or on my computer. This is a GREAT workaround! Thank you!
David says
Yes, that’s definitely a good side-effect of this method–not having to hand over your login credentials to some third party. Glad it’s working for you!
IceKrazy says
Added User Agent plugin to Firefox. Works great! Thank you
subsaharan_footprints says
Hey thanks for putting this together! I’m using Safari but I don’t have the “developer” option… Couldn’t figure out how to add it in. Any thoughts?
David says
Ah, thanks for reminding me… I’ll update above. If you don’t see them in Safari, go to Preferences > Advanced and check the box for “Show Develop menu in menu bar” at the bottom. Will add this above.
Darnnit says
Not working for me, just 4 icons – no camera icon
David says
Have you refreshed the page? It should do it automatically, but it might not have done that.
Marc Bijl says
Not working here either. I’ve done everything listed here, but no camera icon…
At another site I’ve read it might not work for all accounts allready (at this moment).
Also wondering if it has to do with OS X version and/or Safari version. I’m running OS X 10.11.6 and Safari 9.1.2. With this setup I don’t have user agent iOS 10 iPhone, but iOS 9.3 iPhone.
David says
My guess is that of those two, first alternative is more likely–that they’re rolling out gradually to some user accounts. They’re doing that at the moment for the new Archive feature, which isn’t yet available for many users. That said, it’s not clear to me why something like this would be account-specific since it’s a feature of the website, not of the account.
A user agent for an older mobile device shouldn’t matter–it’s still a mobile user agent and one for a device that many people are using.
One more thing worth trying is clearing browser cache and cookies. It might be that your browser is showing you a cached version. I don’t know whether it’ll work, but it’s at least worth trying.