This is one in a series of guides to using apps that be used to upload photos to Instagram from a desktop or laptop computer. Instagram is designed to be used with phones and mobile devices, but for any number of reasons, you might want to be able to upload from your computer rather than your phone.
This guide is focused on Uplet, a Mac app that’s available Mac App Store.
It’s a simple app that doesn’t have many bells and whistles, but I’ve found it to be lightweight, easy to use, and to work as advertised. It doesn’t have any filters or advanced editing features, but that simplicity is a big part of its appeal. A recent update added the ability to work with multiple Instagram accounts.
Here’s a quick rundown of how it works.
Secondly, to interact with Instagram and post on your account, some of these apps and services require your login details. Unless otherwise noted, I have used the ones listed here and haven’t come across any adverse consequences, but you should still be cautious before handing over login details to third-party services. The safest options are ones like the user-agent spoofing method where you don’t hand over your login details to third-parties.
Logging In to your Instagram Account
Once you’ve installed it on your Mac and run it, the main screen is about as simple as can be. You log into your Instagram account in the top panel, providing your username and Instagram password. That then gets stored in the app’s memory so you don’t need to re-enter it every time.
Uploading Photos to Instagram with Uplet’s Drop Panel
The core program is just a drop panel. You can drag one or multiple photos onto it or use the + button to open the usual dialog to browse for them. A recent update has also added the ability to upload videos.
Once you’ve added a photo, you can choose whether to display it cropped as a square or in a rectangular format using the small arrows in the bottom left of the image. You can post photos with aspect ratios between 1.91:1 and 4:5.
Under that is the caption and tagging section. Just type whatever text you want in that section.
Once you hit the Share button, you’ll get a progress dialog.
And then a notification of successful upload.
You can also add multiple photos at once. Simply drag them all at once onto the window. But it’s worth noting that when you upload multiple photos, it posts each as a separate post. It doesn’t support Instagram’s new feature of uploading multiple photos in a single post.
You’ll then get the navigation arrows at the top of the image to move between them. Add your text below each one individually and then hit Share all. Another thing to be aware of is that it uploads them all immediately–it doesn’t stagger or schedule them. So you’ll end up with a bunch of posts at the same time.
I asked the developers whether there were any plans to add scheduling capabilities, and they said there aren’t because it would conflict with Instagram’s policies against automatic posting. It would also presumably add multiple layers of complexity, which would go against the simplicity-of-use of Uplet.
You can find it in the Mac App Store.
Other Options
If Uplet doesn’t meet your needs, I’ve put together a list of other ways to post to Instagram from a desktop or laptop. Each has its own pros and cons. Some have features likes scheduling, and some work as browser plugins.
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