Instagram is a brilliant tool for taking, editing and sharing photos on a smartphone. It’s also a great tool for marketing a brand on social media. However, very often, especially if you use it for marketing, you’ll have a photo on your Mac that you want to share – and transferring it your iPhone is an extra step that can be inconvenient at best.
How to use Instagram on a Mac?
To upload a photo from your desktop you'll need an app like Flume. Flume allows you to post photos directly to Instagram from your Mac. And, if you use Setapp apps like Luminar Flex to edit your photos and Sip to choose the perfect colors for it, you have the perfect Instagram marketing platform right on your Mac. Even if you only use Instagram for fun or socializing, being able to post directly from your Mac is very handy.
Postgres.app is a full-featured PostgreSQL installation packaged as a standard Mac app. It includes everything you need to get started: we’ve even included popular extensions like PostGIS for geo data and plv8 for JavaScript.
A better version of Instagram
Get Flume to post on Instagram from Mac, upload videos, and switch between accounts. No offense, but it's smarter.
Flume also allows you to see your Instagram feed right on your Mac’s desktop, so you can keep up to date with it while you’re working. And you can comment on and like posts on your Mac too. Here’s how to use it to post photos.
How to post pictures to Instagram from Mac
Good news is, you don’t need a special uploader for Instagram on Mac. It’s all done easily through Flume. You get a simple Instagram uploader, newsfeed viewer, commenting, and direct messaging. Simply open Setapp, find Flume, install the app and run it. Then you only need to log into your Instagram account and when you see your feed in Flume’s window, you’re ready to post.
At the bottom of the Flume’s window you can see relevant icons with your feed, direct messages, etc. Bottom left corner has a camera icon, that’s what you’re looking for.
You can then click the camera icon and either take a photo or video using your Mac's camera right there, or upload one from your computer.
From then on, it’s pretty basic: drag the image you want to post (or press Command-0) and post. Click on the brush tool to edit if you feel like adding a filter or color corrections. To move along the row, either swipe left across your trackpad or click the forward arrow.
Use the sliders in the Adjustments menu to straighten or sharpen your image, adjust the color, brightness or saturation, or even add a tilt shift effect. Experiment until you’re happy with the way your image looks.
In the text box below your photo, write a caption that will be posted with it. Remember to include hashtags. To to tag other Instagram users, click the head and shoulders icon at the bottom of your photo, click on the photo where you want add the tag, and start to type the username of the first person you want to tag into the box. When Flume finds the user you’re looking for, click on their name.
Instagram is extremely limited in terms of image editing, so you might want to refer to better software. Well-edited images are the deal breakers on IG after all. Since you already have Setapp, you have two options depending on your proficiency and love for detail.
Photo editing apps you can use right away on Setapp:
If you’re an amateur-to-professional photographer, try CameraBag Pro. It’s an app that combines both ready filters and ultra-detailed editing, including nuanced skin tone correction and eye-sparking tools.
If you just need quick and smart results, go for Photolemur. It’s an app that uses built-in AI to analyze what’s in the picture and how it should be edited. It’s a one-click editor that basically does magic but on the downside: you have limited influence on that magic, apart from the intensity of it.
Try all these apps for free
Get a huge set of top apps for image editing. Best utilities in one pack, give it a go!
How upload video to instagram from Mac
Nothing of major difference from uploading pictures. You grab a video and drag it all the way into the window that opens when you click the camera icon in Flume. Mac Instagram users are going to enjoy not having to move their videos to their iPhones to upload on IG.
When you choose and prep your videos to upload to Instagram from desktop, keep in mind a few things:
Large videos will take longer to upload (duh), give Flume some time to process them.
Instagram only allows videos that are up to 1 minute, so if your video is longer, cut it before uploading or it will get cut automatically.
How to add and switch between multiple Instagram accounts?
Flume allows you to post on different Instagram accounts – though you can only post on one at a time. To add another account, click the Account menu and then click ‘Add an account’. In the window that opens, click the ‘+’ and log into to the account you want to add. Click the circle opposite the name of the account you want to post the current photo on.
Although Flume is designed to allow you to share photos and video on Instagram, but you can share them on Facebook and Twitter too. Click the Share button at the bottom of your photo and select the networks you want to share it on.
That’s about it. Using Instagram for Mac on desktop is nothing new. We’re still surprised that with such a huge audience and business behind it, Instagram still hasn’t introduced a decent desktop client of its own. Luckily for you, there are apps that cover the problem with ease.
We hope this guide has been of help and now you know how to bypass the tricky Mac-iPhone file shifting. It’s a pain to be forced to move every image to your phone when it’s ready for posting, so Flume to the rescue. Have a great day, post a lot, cheers!
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The App Store on your Mac is your gateway to expanding your program library. Gone are the days of buying computer programs from electronics stores; you can just download whatever you need from the App Store. Some stuff is free; other stuff you'll have to pay for. All it takes is an Apple ID and away you go.
Here's how to get started with the Mac App Store!
How to sign in with your Apple ID
Before you can download any apps, you'll need to sign in with your Apple ID.
Launch the App Store from the Dock or Finder under Applications.
Click Sign In in the lower left corner
Enter your Apple ID and password.
Click Sign In or hit return on your keyboard.
Boom. You're in.
How to view and edit your Apple ID account
Before downloading apps, you'll want to make sure you payment and country information are in order so that you don't have to bother with that stuff while you're excitedly downloading apps.
Launch the App Store from the Dock or Finder.
Click Your name on the left side of the screen. It should be in the corner.
Click View Information in the upper right corner. From here you can edit your credit card information, billing address, country, and nickname. If you edit your nickname, it'll appear that way in Game Center.
Type the required information into the fields of the item you're editing.
Click the blue Done button when you're happy with your edits!
How to download an app or game
Whether the goal is productivity or time-wasting, the App Store has the app for you; you just have to download it. Here's how:
Launch the App Store from the Dock or Finder.
Search for the app you want to download. You can view Featured apps or search via category, title, and more.
Click the price if it's a paid app, or click Get if it's a free app.
Click Buy App if it's a paid app, or click Install App if it's free.
Enter your Apple ID password.
Click Buy. (Buy will appear even if the app is free).
How to set up automatic downloads of apps or games on another Mac
If you download apps and games on several different Macs, you can enable automatic downloads so that you have all of your apps with you on all of your Macs!
Launch the App Store from the Dock or Finder.
Click App Store in the menu bar on the top left of your screen.
Click Preferences.
Click the checkbox next to Automatically download apps purchased on other Macs.
How to find an app or game after it's been installed
After you download an app, you obviously want to find it and use it. Here's how!
Open a Finder window.
Click Applications in the folders on the left.
Click the settings button at the top of the window. It looks like a gear.
Click Arrange By.
Click Date Added. This will move your most recently downloaded apps to the top of the list.
How to view and re-download your previously purchased apps and games
If you've already paid for an app, you don't need to pay for it again. So if it goes missing, you can just re-download it and you won't have to look far!
Launch the App Store from the Dock or Finder.
Click Your name at the bottom left corner of the window.
Click Download next to the app or game you'd like to re-download.
How to check for updates to Mac App Store apps
It's a good idea to make sure you have the most recent version of every app you download. Here's how to check:
Launch the App Store from the Dock or Finder.
Click Updates at the left side bar of the window.
Click Update next to each app you'd like to update, or click Update All.
Enter your Apple ID password if prompted.
How to enable automatic updates
If you have many apps, it can be a pain to keep track of them all and constantly check for updates. You can set up automatic updates to do that for you!
Launch the App Store from the Dock or Finder.
Click App Store in the menu bar on the top left of your screen.
Click Preferences.
Click the checkbox next to Automatically check for updates.
Click the checkbox next to each update setting you'd like to enable:
Download newly available updates in the background
Install app updates
Install macOS updates
Install system data files and security updates
Questions?
Let us know in the comments below!
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