Instagram users no longer need the app to upload photos. The company is now rolling out the ability to upload photos through its mobile website. You can’t upload videos, add filters, upload to Stories, or send a direct message. Photo editing in general is limited — you can only rotate them or toggle between the square or wide crop — but still, you could conceivably build a profile from the website.
A condensed version of the Explore page is also now available on the mobile site. The company’s been testing this functionality since March, according to TechCrunch.
Instagram’s mobile website previously only let users view their notifications and feed, but now its mobile site looks nearly identical to its actual app. The company isn’t redesigning or modifying the desktop version of Instagram.com, though, so photo uploading will only work on phones and tablets for now.
This built-out mobile web experience expands on the company’s attempt to make the platform more accessible, regardless of data connection or the phone people are using. Instagram told TechCrunch that the mobile site is “designed to help people have a fuller experience on Instagram no matter what device or network they are on.” In that same vein, this past month, it announced an offline mode for Android users. The more viewing options, the better, I say.
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