Can You Get Instagram on Apple Watch?

Instagram removed its own app from Apple Watch back in 2018, leaving us all high and dry if we wanted to use Instagram for Apple Watch to scroll through our Instagram feeds. But there are still ways to access the popular social network.

How to Get Instagram for Apple Watch

Lens is a third-party app that makes Instagram for Apple Watch possible again, and then some. In fact, Lens has more features from Instagram than the original app from Instagram, such as commenting on posts, liking posts, viewing videos, searching for users, and replying to direct messages. 

You can also view your own feed, check out the Explore tab, find your activity and stories, and see user profiles and direct messages.

Here’s how to get Instagram on your own wrist:

1. Use your iPhone to head over to the App Store and download Lens. This will put the app on your iPhone.

   

2. Launch the Lens app. Tap Login to Instagram. If you get a message stating, “Lens is not installed on the watch!” then tap OK and head to your Apple Watch app on the iPhone.

   

3. Enable Lens with the toggle in the Apple Watch app. You’ll want it to be green. 

   

4. Head back into Lens on your iPhone and log in to Instagram using your Facebook login info or email/password. You may need a code from Facebook’s Code Generator to continue.

   To find the Code Generator in your Facebook app, select the three horizontal line menu in the lower-right corner, then scroll down and select Settings & Privacy > Code Generator. Tap the code you see to copy it to your clipboard, then go back to Lens and paste it into the field provided. Select Continue to save the browser so you don’t have to do this every time.

   

5. Return to your Apple Watch and launch Lens. 

6. Press the Digital Crown on your watch to open the app grid. Swipe around and tap the Lens icon to launch Lens.

7. You’ll see a list of options that will take you to various Instagram features, such as Home, Stories, Activity, Explore, Messages, Profile, and Search. 

   

8. Home shows you your basic Instagram feed with posts from your friends. Turn the Digital Crown to scroll up or down through the feed. You can tap the heart icon to like posts or tap the speech bubble icon to comment—both are just below the photo. 

   If you tap the speech bubble, you can then tap Add a Comment. You’ll have your choice of text entry, including dictation, scribbles, emoji, and FlickType Keyboard, a third-party app that will download the first time you choose it. 

   

   If you comment, you won’t be able to edit it, just like a regular Instagram comment. 

9. Tap Activity to see all the activity on your Instagram account. Tap Explore to view a feed that Instagram’s algorithms think you might like. Tap Profile to see exactly what you’d expect: your photo, follower and post counts, and a feed of the photos and videos you’ve uploaded to Instagram. 

   

10. Tap Search to bring up the text entry options again, including a list of accounts with your search term in them. Scroll with the Digital Crown and tap through to see individual feeds. 

    

    Tap Stories and you're told this is a Lens Pro feature, which you can upgrade to via your iPhone for $1.99.

This is Instagram for Apple Watch

Overall, Lens is the app you wish Instagram had made. It includes pretty much everything you’d want to peruse Instagram on your Apple Watch, and should satisfy most users in terms of feature set. Upgrading for such a low price to get Stories, too, is a no-brainer for serious users.