Last Updated on: 29th June 2022, 08:37 pm

Using Instagram on phones and tablets is a breeze, it provides you with tons of functionality and features to upload and share candid moments of your life with your followers. Instagram is a photo/video-centric social media space where you express your individuality through visuals and all visuals are not only captured through mobile phones by everyone. Some use DSLRs, especially photographers and some use professional video gear like cinematographers.

Professionals love to edit their raw content by adding more color, depth, and personality to help represent their true individuality and artistic capabilities and such work is only possible through PCs and laptops. The official way to use Instagram on a PC is by visiting Instagram’s website on any web browser. Unfortunately, the web version of Instagram does not support uploading media still in 2020.

You can sync your photos on your PC to your smartphone, but sometimes you do not want to go through that hassle. You have to wait for them to sync, then download them, and then post them. This whole process might get overwhelming and tiring to do after a few times.

Features like direct messages and story viewing have been added over time but still, the core feature is the uploading option is missing from the web version of Instagram. Even though the official web version of Instagram does not allow you to upload media there are some unofficial and safe ways to upload media. These ways will give you more control over how you edit and upload your content.

For a Windows PC:

Let’s start with how to upload media through a Windows PC:

Tinkering with the Web Browser:

Web browsers are complex applications that might seem straightforward to use but do have a lot of functionality built into them. You can toggle some options here and there in web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and the new Microsoft Edge on your Windows PC to enable uploading media on Instagram.

Our step by step guide to help you toggle this feature as follows:

Step 1: Go to www.instagram.com on any browser of your choice and log into your account.

Step 2: The web version of Instagram is now visible to you. Right-click on anywhere on the webpage and then find the Inspect option in the dropdown menu.

Step 3: Click on the Inspect option now. A window will open up in the browser on your screen (This window will be in the lower portion of the screen if you are using Firefox). This window will have long lines of developer code that is written by web developers so the website can run smoothly. This Inspect option opens up the code of the website so a web developer can write more code or debug the site. However, what we need to do does not include any code writing so do not worry.

Step 4: There will be an icon looking like a tablet and a phone on the top left side of the window, the same icon will appear in the top-right corner of the window if you are using Firefox. Click on this icon. After clicking this icon the web version of the website will start looking like the mobile app version of Instagram which we are pretty familiar with.

Step 5: There will be a tab named responsive, by clicking on it a list of smartphone device names will be shown. Click on any one of the names, which will be the preferred virtual device that you are going to use to access Instagram.

Step 6: Close the Inspect window and refresh the site. If the uploading option does not appear after closing the inspect window and refreshing, then refresh the web page several times the upload option will appear eventually.

Step 7: Now click on the upload option and select your photo. It will have a very similar UI to how you upload photos on your phone. You can select a single photo or upload a group of 10 photos.

This way of toggling Instagram’s uploading options is pretty easy and fast, you do not have to login into or install any third-party application and you can easily upload your photos according to your liking.

Using an Android-Emulator:

Android emulators provide a pretty easy way to access the mobile versions of applications on your Windows PC. The most popular and reliable Android-emulator available in the market right now is BlueStacks. You can download its latest version from its official webpage and can, later on, set it up with your Gmail account just like an average Android device. You can access millions of Android apps through the Google Play Store, from there you can download the official Instagram application.

From there you can use Instagram the same way how you are used to using it on your phone but this time it will be on your PC. You can easily upload your video and photos now without any hassle. This way of uploading is fast as you do not have to change your browser settings, it also provides you with Instagram’s built-in editing features and it gives you a much more controlled experience while uploading your media on the photo-centric social media site.

For a Mac PC:

For a Mac Pc or a MacBook, you can use the same trick of changing developer settings in browsers like Chrome or Firefox. Due to some reason, if you are not a fan of these browsers and want to stay in Apple’s ecosystem’s proprietary Safari browser then we have also got you covered. Yes, you can change Instagram’s web version to show uploading options on the Safari browser too. The process to achieve it might be different but it will get you similar results. The step-by-step guide is as follows:

Step 1: Open the Safari browser on your Mac PC.

Step 2: Now click on the Preference option in the top menu bar in the safari browser and select the ‘Advanced’ option in the dropdown menu.

Step 3: After clicking Advanced there will be a checkbox option on the lower portion of the window showing “Show develop menu in the menu bar”, check this option and close this window.

Step 4: Now open another tab on the Safari browser and open Instagram’s official website. Till now there will be no visible change on the Instagram website.

Step 5: Click on the Develop option in the menu bar in Safari. A dropdown menu will appear, here go to User Agent and then to Safari – iOS a.b.c – iPhone option. (a.b.c represents the latest iOS version available e.g. 13.0.1). By selecting this feature now you have selected a virtual mobile agent to operate Instagram.

Step 6: Refresh your Instagram webpage and after refreshing, there will be the classic mobile interface having the same uploading option right in the lower middle portion of the screen.

Step 7: Click on it and select the photo or video you want to upload on Instagram. You will get the same windows that you get on a smartphone showing you options with Instagram’s editing tools and to write a custom caption and add hashtags to your post.

Final Thoughts

All these methods are completely safe and legal to use so do not need to worry that your account might get banned or blocked from using Instagram. These ways are just to help you upload your content with much more flexibility and ease like however you want to in the future. So, keep Instagramming beautiful moments of your life!

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