Instagram has been working on the ability to directly post content from your desktop. The app has now launched this as a test to a few users, and we’re here to give you all the details…
For those users that it is available to, they now see a + icon at the top of their Instagram page when visiting Instagram.com from their laptop or desktop. By clicking this icon, these users will be able to upload and post files from their computer. See below for an example of how this will look.
When choosing to post a picture or video from the desktop version of the app, you’ll have the same filter and editing options for the post as you do with the mobile version.
The option to post Stories and Reels from your desktop is not available with this test. However, some users also now have the option to upload IGTV videos from their desktop. Although there has been an ability to post to your Instagram feed and/or IGTV via Creator Studio, this has only been allowed for Business Accounts, and the same editing options as the mobile version of the app have never been available.

Again, Instagram is still testing out these new additions for the desktop app, and they aren’t available to all users just yet. But Instagram states they know a lot of people access their app via desktop, so they’ll continue to test how they can make this experience better. Other updates Instagram has made previous to this to improve their desktop app have been the ability to view live streams from your desktop, as well as improving how you view stories via desktop.
With the addition of these new options to the desktop version of the app, this can definitely help you in managing your Instagram content. Although, it will still be easier to schedule content out via a platform like Multibrain, this will help for that last minute upload when you’re on your desktop trying to find something to post in real time. You’ll be able to easily download an image or video from our Content Library to your computer, to then manually post to Instagram, or upload and post any content you have saved on your computer to Instagram. Be sure to stay tuned for when these new options launch!
Source: Hutchinson, Andrew. “Instagram Launches Live Test of Image and Video Uploads From the Desktop Version of the App.” SocialMediaToday, 24 June 2021, https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-launches-live-test-of-image-and-video-uploads-from-the-desktop-ve/.