Functions on Instagram. How to use Instagram: posting photos and videos, useful tips and advice

This article will be completely devoted to the question of how to use Instagram on the phone.

Instagram is one of the hottest and most popular apps on the web. It combines social media, photo uploading and mobility, which is why so many people love it.

The main purpose of Instagram is to upload photos, real photos with friends, taken on the go. Read our introduction to Instagram if you need a comprehensive description of this app.

Now that you have learned about the existence of this service and its popularity - how to start using it? It's a little tricky compared to other popular social networks, as Instagram is the first mobile social network, but we'll help you.

Take a look at the photo and you will learn how to use Instagram and how to complete all the settings in just a few minutes.

The very first thing you should do is take your mobile device on iOS or Android. Now Instagram app only works on these two mobiles operating systems, and a version for Windows Phone.

If you don't have an iOS or Android device (or Windows Phone), unfortunately, you won't be able to use Instagram this time. Through a normal network, only very limited access, and for real use service, you need a compatible mobile device.

To do this, just open Google play or App Store on your mobile device and search for “Instagram”. The first result should be official app Instagram.

Download it and install it.

You can now start by creating your free user account on Instagram. To do this, click the "Register" button.

Instagram will ask you to follow a few steps to create your account. First, you will need to choose a username and password.

At this stage or later, you can upload a photo to your profile and connect to your friends on Facebook or Vkontakte. Also, to create an account, the Instagram service will ask for your email address, name and phone number (optional).

Click the "Done" button in the upper right corner to confirm the entered information is correct. The Instagram app will then ask if you want to connect with your social media friends, if you haven't already, or with people from your contact list. You can click Next or Skip if you want to skip this step.

And at the end, the Instagram app will show a few and thumbnails of photos to invite you to follow. You can click the "Follow" button to subscribe, then click the "Done" button.

So, your Instagram account is completely set up. Now it's time to learn how to navigate the app using the menu icons located at the bottom of the screen.

There are five menu icons that allow you to view different parts of Instagram: home, explore, take a photo, activity, and your profile.

• Home (home icon): This is your personal feed, which displays all the photos of only those users to whom you follow, as well as yours.
• Explore (star icon): This tab showcases the thumbnails of the photos that have attracted the most activity and serves as a good tool for finding new users to follow.
• Take a photo (camera icon): Use this tab when you want to take a photo directly from the application or upload a photo from the Gallery.
• Activity (bubble heart icon): Switch between the "Following" and "News" tabs at the top of the screen to see activity in Instagram people that you follow or to see recent activities in your own photos.
• User profile (newspaper icon): This tab shows your profile, including your profile picture, number of photos, number of followers, number of people you follow, a map with the location of photos, and a photo with tags. Here you can also access and change any personal settings.

Now you can start taking your own photos and posting them on Instagram. There are two ways to do this: directly through the application or by uploading photos from the Gallery or another folder.

1. Snapshots directly through the app: Just select the “take photo” tab to access the Instagram camera, then click on the camera icon to take a photo. You can switch between the main and front camera using the button located in the upper right corner.
2. Using an already taken photo: Go to the camera tab and instead of taking a picture, click on the icon next to it. This will take you to the directory where the photos are stored on your phone - this way you can select the photo that you took before.

After choosing a photo, you can post it as it is, or use one or more filters.

• Filters (miniatures in balls): Scroll through them to get an instant makeover of your photo.
• Rotate (arrow icon): Click this icon to rotate your photo if Instagram doesn't automatically recognize which orientation to display it in.
• Border (icon with a border): Select "on" or "off" to display a frame corresponding to each filter in your photo.
• Focus (drop icon): You can use this tool to focus on any object. It supports circular and linear focus, blurring all other objects in the photo. Move your fingers to resize the focus area, and drag across the screen to move focus to the desired object.
• Brightness (sun icon): Turn brightness on or off to add light, shadow and contrast to your photo.

When you're done editing the photo, click Next.

It's time to fill detailed information about your photo. It is not necessary to do this, but it is recommended to at least add a description of the photo for your followers.

When done, click the Share button. Your photo will be posted on Instagram.

Communication is one of the best things about Instagram. You can interact by means of "likes" or comments on users' photos.

1. Like(heart icon): Click on it to add a heart or "like" to someone's photo. You can also double-click on the photo to automatically “like” it.
2. Comment(bubble icon): Click on it to enter a comment for the photo. You can also add hash tags or tag another user by entering their username as @username in the comment.

If you want to find a specific user and a specific label, you can use the search bar in the Explore tab for this.

Click on the search bar and enter a word, tag, or username. You will be shown a list of results.

This function is especially useful for finding friends or for viewing photos of a subject of your interest.

Change your user type from Public to Private: By default, all photos on Instagram are public and can be viewed by everyone. If you change this setting, only authorized followers will be able to see your photos. This can be done by going to the profile tab, selecting "Edit Your Profile" and then clicking on the "Photos are Private" button located at the bottom.

Deleting a photo: On any of your photos, you can click on the three-dot icon to remove it after placement. This does not guarantee that none of your followers will see it on their Instagram feeds.

Complain about photos: If you think another user's photo is inappropriate for Instagram, you can click on the button with three dots below that photo and select “Report Inappropriate” if you think it should be removed.

Block user: If you want to block the subscription or viewing of your profile specific user, click on the icon in the upper right corner of his Instagram profile and select "Block User". You can also report spam by selecting "Report for Spam" if you think that this user is distributing it. You can also easily unblock someone on Instagram.

Editing settings: In addition to all this, you can edit your preferences by going to the user profile and clicking on the settings button in the upper right corner. You can also edit another personal information, for example, your avatar, email address or password under "Edit Your Profile".

According to Instagram, it is the second largest social network in the world. For us Instagram addicts, this is not surprising. We sit in it for hours, leaf through pages, edit pictures, upload them and share with others. The main question is whether you use everythingInstagram features?

It turns out that Instagram has a lot of features that help improve the user experience, increase your efficiency, and allow you to personalize the app. We found 15 hidden opportunities and advice, how to use Instagram.

15 hidden Instagram features

1. Browse your favorite posts

Instagram saves all the posts you like. If you don't knowhow to view your favorite posts on Instagram, just go to your profile, click the “Settings” button, then select “Account” and “Posts you like”.

2. Hide posts you've been tagged in

As soon as you are tagged on a photo on Instagram, it automatically appears in the “Photos with you” tab. To hide it, go to the tab and click on the photo you want to hide. Select the tag you have been tagged with and the "Hide from profile" option from the menu that appears.

3. Manage filters

If you use an editor on Instagram, there are likely to be filters that you use the most and ones that you don't like. You can arrange them as you like. Just upload a photo, scroll through the filters and click the “Manage” option.

Instagram Filters appear in the normal order. Click on the desired one and, while holding it, move it to the beginning or end of the list.

4. Add line breaks

To make a new paragraph, press the “123” key and add line breaks with the “Enter” button.

5. Save posts and create collections

You have the opportunity not onlysee your favorite photos on Instagrambut also save the selected publications. You can also combine them into collections. If you don't knowhow to view your Instagram saves, just go to your profile and click “Saved”. You will see a list of your saved posts. To add them to the collection, click on the desired one and select the appropriate option.

6 ... Browse photos by location

You can view photos with tags of different locations. To do this, click on the search icon and enter a name. Select the desired location from the menu. Then click “Places”. You will see all the photos taken there.

7. Hide ads

Even though Instagram tries to show only relevant advertisements, they can still be annoying. You have the ability to influence the situation by telling Instagram which ads you don't want to see. To hide it, open the options next to the unwanted ad and click “Hide Ads”. You will need to choose a reason why you do not want to see this ad. This will help Instagram understand which ads to show you.

8. Receive notifications from selected accounts

This feature is useful for companies that track competitors. By turning on notifications, you'll know when they post new content... To do this, click the options next to one of the photos and select “Enable post notifications”.

9. Invite followers to group chats from stories

Instagram has expanded the functions of stories by adding the ability to invite users to group chats... You just need to click on the "Chat" sticker when creating a story and choose which of the subscribers to invite. But keep in mind that there can be no more than 32 participants in the chat.

10. Delete comments

In addition to your comments, you can also delete those that other users leave under your posts. To do this, just hold down the comment and click on the trash can icon.

11. Disable comments

Sometimes it is better to dispense with comments at all. To disable the ability to comment on a specific post, load it as usual, go to advanced settings and select the option “Disable comments”.

12. Archive publications

If your style has changed over the years of running an Instagram account, you might want to clean up your old photos from your profile. There is no need to delete them. You can archive publications. They will not appear on your page, but you will still have access to them. Just select the post you want to send to Instagram archive , open options and click the corresponding item.

All archived posts can be seen in the "Archive" tab in the options.

13. Hide hashtags

You don't need a bunch of tags below your posts. You can hide them by indicating that there is too much text. As a result, a compressed message will be displayed with a [...] symbol instead of hashtags. Click on the "123" button on your keyboard and put a full stop in the comment box, then press Return to start a new paragraph and add five more periods. Add your hashtags below the dots. Your comment will now look like this:

14. Hide stories from specific users

Not everyone needs to see what you are doing. If you want to hide your Instagram stories from specific people, go to your profile, click options, then - "Settings". Select "Privacy" - "History" - "Hide my history from" and enter the names of the people you want to exclude.

15. Go to a business account

By switching to a business account, you will be able to accessInstagram statisticsand run ads. it useful option for brands that lets you know target audience, add CTA buttons and get familiar with analytics. In your profile, select the options - "Settings" - "Account" - "Switch to business account" and "Continue". Then you will need to fill in all the data, link your Facebook account, enter your phone number, email and company address. Click "Finish" and useInstagram statisticsas well as other benefits of a business account.

Are you choosing the right photo to post under some popular hashtag and draw attention to your account? Considering the number of Instagram users - and there are 400 million - you will have to try and do something more impressive than another successful selfie.

Shoot with any camera

Yes, you cannot fully use Instagram without a phone, but this does not mean that you can only take pictures on a smartphone. If you took a cool picture using your DSLR, send it to yourself by mail and then copy it to Instagram or save it to your Photos folder.

Promote photos not only on Instagram

Why limit yourself to the scope of your account when you can upload photos directly to the site? In the Wix editor, this is done in just a couple of minutes: go to, find the "" application, install it, configure it and see how new images appear automatically on your site.

Work on filters

Do you really like the Ludwig filter, but for this particular photo, the colors seem too saturated? No problem: double click on the filter icon and tweak them.

Make gifs in Boomerang

Instagram has its own looping video app called “ Boomerang". The principle of operation is very simple: place, launch, press a button and wait until it takes 10 photos and assembles a short video from them.

Do not be afraid to log into other people's accounts

Do you think you might have accidentally pressed a heart while looking at a competitor's profile? Go to "Options" → "Posts you like" and see which posts are marked with "likes". Everything is fine? That's great.

If you have just recently joined a popular social network, you should read the following instruction “How to use Instagram”, which will help you understand all the intricacies of the service. The service interface is intuitive, so it will be quite easy to get used to it. But still, we will tell you about the basic steps so that you can quickly become an active member of this multimillion-dollar social network and photo editor in one bottle.

Install and register

Although the idea of ​​a social network is to share pictures taken "on the go", that is, from mobile devices, you can also use Instagram from a computer. If you want to run Instagram from your computer, you will need to install an Android emulator.

By downloading and installing free app to your mobile device, you will need to go through a simple registration. The application offers 2 options to choose from: and via Facebook. If you do not have a Facebook account, choose the option with by e-mail... Further actions take place according to the following scheme:

1. In the window that opens, enter your email address.
2. Below we indicate a unique username. If you want to change your name on the social network a little later, you can do it.
3. We come up with a password and indicate it below.
4. To continue, you must click on the arrow at the top of the screen.
5. In the next step, the application will ask you to enter your first name, last name and mobile number, but you can skip this for now.
6. Then the service will offer you to immediately find your friends on such popular social networks as Vkontakte and Facebook. You can also skip this step for now.

That's it, the procedure is complete, you can use it! Immediately after starting Instagram, you are taken to home page- a feed where you will see your new pictures and photos of those to whom you subscribe. Each picture can be "liked" and annotated.

Setting up notifications

The first step is to set up notifications. To receive push notifications from the system about important events related to your account, go to the "Push notifications settings" menu item. This item is located in general settings, to open which you must click on the gear icon. Push notifications that appear on your screen will inform you about the following actions:

• You have been "liked" or left a comment under your photo.
• You have been tagged in the picture.
• You were mentioned in a comment and left a link to your profile.
• Your photo has been featured in Popular.

By choosing to disable push notifications, these events will only appear in the News section.

Setting up integration with social networks

Instagram can be linked to popular social networks such as Vkontakte and Facebook. To do this, you need to go to the "Post Settings" menu item, and then select those social networks with which you want to link your Instagram account.

By doing this, all the images that you add to Instragram will be published in the selected services.

Add photos

When you click on the button with the camera image, you will be prompted to post the photo stored on your device on the network or take it right now. It is more convenient to post photos taken immediately from the application, since then you can use filters and cropping, since all photos on Instagram are square.

When you go to the gallery of pictures stored on your device, you can select any of them, and then process it and add it to Instagram. The gallery icon is located in the lower left corner. You can upload any old picture to the network, even taken with a professional camera.

Getting to know filters

- this is what makes the photos from the application special and interesting. Today there are 23 filters in total, which differ from each other and can make your picture vivid and expressive. You can choose a filter for any photo, depending on its subject, white balance, lighting or contrast.

Applying filters is very simple: as soon as you take a new photo or upload an old photo, a window with filters will open, clicking on which you will immediately see how your photo will look. When you find the filter you want, click on the button at the top of the screen to apply it.

Using the tilt-shift effect

Instagram has the ability to take pictures as if they were not taken with a camera mobile phone, but on a professional camera with a tilt-shift lens. These lenses allow you to tilt and rotate the plane of your photo at a specific angle. Such unusual effect creates the illusion of a toy world in the picture. Thanks to him, your pictures will become even more three-dimensional and cooler.

This effect works best for cityscape shots, but can be applied to other photos as well. To successfully apply the tilt-shift effect, the objects in the photo that you want to select must be in the foreground. After applying the effect, these objects will be in focus, and everything behind them will be in the haze. If the photo is not suitable for this effect, the result may be porridge. In principle, the effect is applicable to background objects as well, but the attention should be focused on it when viewing the picture.

We shoot videos

On Instagram, you can shoot and add videos to the feed, up to 15 seconds long. Of course, this feature is less popular than taking a photo, but many people actively use it. To make your videos even more interesting, you can process them using special effects. As with photos, you can record a new video directly from the app or add a video you already have. There are 13 effects in the application today, including:

• Stinson - Adds more light and haze to the video.
• Maven - Offsets colors towards green.
• Skyline - makes the image richer and brighter.
• Dogpatch - Adds clarity and contrast to videos.
• Moon - makes your video black and white.

Subscribe to pages

The "Recommended" section contains the most interesting network accounts. To follow the news of stars or people of interest to you, click on the "Subscribe" button. After that, the color of the button will change to green. By doing this, the pictures and posts of everyone you follow will be displayed on the home page.

Looking for friends

In addition, by going to the official website of the application, you can perform all basic actions with your account, for example, change the data in your profile, view the feed and comment on friends' photos. We hope this tutorial will help you quickly get used to the popular social network Instagram.

Although many users use third party applications for pre-editing photos, Instagram gained popularity at one time primarily due to the built-in filters. Time goes by, their number is constantly growing, and you can now level the horizon, correct the shadows and warmth of the color gamut of the image just before publishing.

It's easy to get lost in a variety of 41 filters, but if you've already got your hands on and remember the difference between Juno and Crema, then it's time to put things in order in this long horizontal list. Scroll to the right, click Manage and remove unloved filters.

Remove a bad photo of you from your profile

Not every moment of our life is filled with cheerful colors, smiles and an ideal world around us. An unsuccessful photo with you is not a reason to remove it from your profile, but, be that as it may, you can do it on Instagram.

To do this, open the photo, click on your name and select the Hide from My Profile radio button.

Track what your friends like

For me, this section is a storehouse of new discoveries. Find an alternative tape with best photos which your friends have chosen for themselves, you can in the Following tab of the Activity section.

View all the photos you liked

I don’t know about you, but I often had to flip through the feed a few days ago to find the picture I liked and show my friends. It is even more difficult if the photo you found is not in your feed.

In general, if this situation is familiar to you, the Posts You've Liked tab will always remind you of your preferences.

Post a photo to a favorite circle

Through the fault of the PR people on Instagram or because of the perception of the social network by the majority of users, the Instagram Direct function has remained undeservedly unclaimed.

Send your favorite snapshot from the feed in a message

Some noticeable changes are still difficult for Instagram developers, but recently there have been noticeably more of them.

The social network has not yet acquired the expected analogue of retweets, but recently its mobile applications replenished with the function of sending your favorite pictures of the tape to private messages. This is the third button next to "Like" and "Comment", if anything.

Follow the updates of your favorite accounts

Perhaps among your subscriptions there are accounts whose posts please you the most. In this case, in context menu hidden behind the ellipsis in the upper right corner of the open favorite profile page, you will find the Turn on Post Notifications option.

Click on it, and every time a new publication appears in your account, you will receive a notification on your smartphone.