How to use Instagram on desktop

Although social media is very much mobile focused, many people still use a desktop computer to create the content for their social media accounts.

Unfortunately, Instagram has purposely designed their desktop interface to not allow the posting of images. Luckily there is a simple and free way to get around this problem.

Note: The below screenshots were taken in a Chrome browser on a Mac laptop. If you are using a different browser or desktop, you may see some differences in the interface.

Step 1 – Launch Instagram in your desktop browser

Open your browser and log into Instagram on your desktop computer, then go to your profile.

As shown above, you will notice that there are no options along the bottom of the page to be able to add images.

Step 2 – Right click and select “Inspect”

To enable the option to add images, we are going to make Instagram think that we are viewing from a mobile device instead.

To do this, start by right clicking on the page and selecting “Inspect” from the drop down menu that appears.

Step 3 – Display Developer Tools

By clicking Inspect, it opens up the Chrome Developer Tools area.

You can choose to undock this window and have it as free floating, or dock it to the left, right or bottom of your screen, depending on what your preferred viewing is.

Step 4 – Select “Network conditions”

The next step is to navigate to the Network conditions menu.

To do this, click on the three dots to the left of the bottom menu, then select “Network conditions” from the drop down menu.

Step 5 – Untick “Select automatically”

We then need to untick the option “Select automatically” for the field User agent. This will then allow us to select our own preferred user agent.

Step 6 – Choose your mobile device

From the drop down list, select your preferred mobile device, such as an iPhone or Android mobile.

You might notice that you can also choose to use a difference browser option than the one you are actually using. However, to keep it simple, it’s best to stick to a mobile device from the browser list that you are using.

Step 7 – Refresh your browser

For the changes to take affect, you will need to refresh your browser. Either manually do this by clicking the refresh button at the top of the browser, you use a shortcut like Command / Windows Key + R.

Step 8 – Start using Instagram!

Ta da! Instagram now thinks you and viewing it from a mobile device.

You will now see the option to add images displayed along the bottom of your screen, along with the other usual options you are use to seeing on your mobile.

Now time to post your latest beautifully designed and crafted image to your Instagram profile!