Social Media > Instagram How to Use Instagram on a PC or Mac Instagram workarounds and ways to upload photos from your desktop By Leslie Walker Leslie Walker Twitter Writer University of Virginia Former Lifewire writer Leslie Walker is a multimedia journalism professor who covers social media, web publishing, and internet technologies. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on November 3, 2022 Reviewed by Jon Fisher Reviewed by Jon Fisher Wichita Technical Institute Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email In This Article Expand Jump to a Section How to Post to Instagram on a Desktop Use the Instagram for Windows Desktop App Workarounds for Older Computers Frequently Asked Questions What to Know Log in to Instagram.com, click +, upload a photo or video, edit, and click Share. The Instagram for Windows desktop app works the same as the web version. This article explains how to use Instagram on a PC or Mac desktop. To access your Instagram page on the web, go to the address bar in the browser, then enter http://instagram.com/username. How to Post to Instagram on a Desktop You can access Instagram on your PC or Mac using a web browser to review your feed, like and comment on posts, view your profile, and follow or unfollow people. Instagram also recently added the ability to send and receive direct messages. You can also post photos or videos. Go to Instagram.com and log in. Click the Create New Post (+) button in the upper-right corner of the page. Drag an image or video file to the Create New Post window that appears. Alternatively, click Select from computer, navigate to the file you want to post, and select Open. The photo or video appears in the window. Click the magnifying glass in the lower-left corner of the window to zoom in on the image if you want to crop it. Then, drag it to the desired position in the window. Select the double-arrow icon to select a specific aspect ratio for the post. If you want to add more images, click the Multiple photos button in the lower-right corner, click the plus sign (+) that appears, and add up to nine more pictures or videos. Click Next to continue. On the Filters tab, select a filter to apply, if desired. On the Adjustments tab, adjust aspects such as brightness, contrast, and saturation. Click Next to continue. Add a caption, tag someone, and add hashtags, if desired. Click Share when you are ready to share the post. Use the Instagram for Windows Desktop App The Instagram for Windows desktop app works the same as the web version. You can post photos or videos, view posts, like and comment, and follow and unfollow users. Instagram for Windows doesn't work with older PCs or Macs, though. Instagram for Windows requires Windows 10 version 10586.0 or higher and 2 GB of RAM. Additionally, a Microsoft account is needed to download Instagram for Windows. Workarounds for Older Computers If you want to post photos and videos to Instagram from your desktop and you have a Mac or older PC that can't run the Instagram for Windows app, there are some workarounds. BlueStacks BlueStacks is a free Android phone emulator. It emulates the Android version of Instagram on a PC or Mac, making it possible to upload photos to Instagram. An emulator is a software program that simulates a mobile phone operating system (or another type of operating system) on a computer. Install BlueStacks, then download Instagram. Sign in to your Instagram account, and your Instagram feed appears as it does on a phone. Download Bluestacks Flume Flume is a Mac-only Instagram app that allows you to upload photos, post to Instagram from a Mac, edit photos, and more. It also includes some power-user functions the mobile Instagram app doesn't offer, such as hover shortcuts and ways to promote your brand. Download Flume Email If there's a photo on your desktop computer you want to post on Instagram, a low-tech solution is to email yourself the picture, access that picture from your phone, then post it to Instagram. Dropbox Use Dropbox, the free cloud-based storage app, to share photos on your desktop computer to your mobile device, then access those photos in Instagram. 17 Best Free Cloud Storage Services for Backup in 2022 Pixlr Pixlr isn't a desktop Instagram workaround. Instead, it's a photo app with features similar to Instagram. Pixlr calls itself a "next-generation online photo editor." 13 Best Free Online Photo Editors FAQ How do I text on Instagram on a computer? Log in to Instagram in a web browser and select the paper plane icon in the upper-left of the screen. You're now able to access direct messages. You can read all active conversations and select Send Message to start a new DM. How do I delete a post on Instagram on a computer? To delete a post on Instagram on a computer, log in to Instagram in a web browser and go to the post you want to delete. Select More (three dots) above the post and choose Delete. Select Delete again to confirm. How do I go live on Instagram on a computer? Unfortunately, you can only start Instagram Live videos from your mobile device using the Instagram app for iOS or Android. However, you can watch Instagram live streams from Instagram on your Mac or Windows PC desktop. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit