How to share pictures on Instagram from Desktop (step by step)

Posted on May 9, 2017

With the new changes that Instagram has recently rolled out, it’s now possible to post using a mobile web browser (ex: Safari in your iPhone). But if you’re browsing from desktop, there seems to be no easy way to share pictures using the web interface. There’s a simple trick though, that will let you publish your favorite latte pictures right from your Desktop computer. You’ll just need an updated version of Google Chrome. (See my example)

Enter DevTools

As web developers, we need special tools to make our lives easier when testing and developing websites. Chrome includes a DevTool extension that helps us simulate mobile browsers to test our Web Apps before releasing them. By simulating a mobile device using Chrome, we’ll be able to publish from our desktop.

To do so, go to the Instagram website and lunch DevTools by accessing Chrome Menu > Tools > Developer Tools. Or just hit Ctrl+Shift+J(PC) or Cmd+Opt+J(Mac). Once you lunch it, you’ll see something like this:

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Red Arrow shows DevTools opened

How to publish your photo

As I told you before, DevTools will let us simulate a Mobile Device that will make Instagram show the Publish button. At the upper left corner of your DevTools you should see an icon that looks like a mobile phone and a tablet. That’s the “Simulate Device” button we’re looking for:

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Simulate Device feature

If you click on that icon, DevTools will simulate a mobile device. You’ll be able to select the Mobile Device you want (I chose iPhone 6) and after refreshing your page (F5) you should see the Publish button!

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Post Button on Desktop!

The process is then as simple you can imagine. Here are the rest of the steps to share the image:

Select the image to share

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Select the image to share

Make the changes you wish

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Make Changes

Share it!

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Here’s an example of the photo I published while writing these lines: https://www.instagram.com/p/BT4CSSIgycJ/

This post was automatically migrated from Medium. It still lives at: https://medium.com/@santiagobasulto/how-to-share-pictures-on-instagram-from-desktop-step-by-step-c523d525f286