Instagram login: How to login on desktop and how to download Instagram on mobile?

Instagram users can finally log into their account on their desktop to scroll through their feed.

The photo-sharing network has added a desktop support feature to allow for scrolling when you do not want to use your phone. 

Instagram does have restricted features on a desktop at the moment, with users limited on how much they can post, see and engage with.

The app lets you search for friends, browse your feed and access your own profile from your computer, for when you are at work or you are not using your phone. 

There are ways you can upload photos to your Instagram account online. Here, Express.co.uk explains how to login on your computer.

How to login to Instagram on your desktop

To login to your Instagram account online, head over to the Instagram website: https://www.instagram.com/. 

You will be greeted with a login page that will ask you to log in either with your Facebook account (if your Instagram and Facebook accounts are connected) or for you to enter your email, mobile number and password. 

Choose which way you would like to log in and sign into your account. 

You will see a slightly reduced Instagram to what you are used to on your phone. You will have your regular picture feed and you will be able to search for accounts on your desktop. 

There is a workaround to let you post pictures from your desktop. If you are using Mac and have Safari as your default browser, go into Preferences and select Advanced. 

You’ll then have to check “Show Develop menu in menu bar,” which is located at the very bottom.

You will then have to open a private Safari window, go into Develop, then User Agent, and select Safari — iOS 10 — iPhone.

This will let you use Safari as if you were on your phone: when you log into Instagram, you’ll now see the camera button at the bottom of the screen, and you can upload photos.

If you’re on a PC and using Chrome, it’s a bit easier to get the camera button to appear. Log into your Instagram and right click the page (anywhere) to get a drop-down menu. 

Select Inspect and click on the Tablet icon. This will automatically switch your page to mobile view, which grants access to the camera upload button.

How to download Instagram on your mobile

The process of downloading Instagram on your phone is pretty much the same for both iOS and Android. 

Head over to either the App Store for iPhone or the Google Play Store on your Android device and search for Instagram. 

Tap either Get or Install for iOS or Android respectively and wait for the app to download. 

If you have not yet set up an Instagram account before, you will be prompted to create one when you launch the app. Enter your details, including email, full name, username, number and a password to set up your account. 

Once that is done you will be able to add friends, scroll through your feed and post pictures online.