Instagram is one of the most popular social networks out there, focused around the sharing of photos and videos, and people use it for myriad reasons. While iPhone and Android users can install Instagram on their device through the respective app stores, Mac users who want to install Instagram have a different route entirely.
If you’ve wanted the ability to use Instagram on the Mac as an application, you’ll be happy to know that the new web apps feature in Safari makes it possible. With this trick, you’ll have Instagram in your Mac Dock like any other application, and when clicked it will launch the Instagram web app as an application running on your Mac.
How to Add Instagram Web App to Mac
Installing Instagram as an app in the Mac Dock requires using the web apps feature of Safari in macOS Sonoma 14 and later. Here’s how to add Instagram to your Mac dock:
- Launch Safari browser on the Mac if you haven’t done so already
- In Safari, go to https://instagram.com, then resize it to the size you would like the Instagram web app to be
- From the menu bar, choose File > Add to Dock. Or click the Share button in the Safari toolbar, then choose Add to Dock.
- Keep Instagram, or customize the web app name if you’d like and click "Add"
- Instagram will be added to your Mac dock.
The Instagram Mac app is saved to the Applications folder of your home folder, and you can open it from the Dock, Launchpad, or Spotlight.
The Instagram Mac app functions independently of Safari. It shares no browsing history, cookies, website data, or settings with Safari. In this way, it keeps your browsing separate. That means you can quit Instagram and continue to use Safari and vice versa. Moreover, the Instagram app’s icon in the Dock can show the number of unread notifications.
If you need Safari features such as bookmarks or tabs, you can easily switch to Safari: Click the Share button, then choose Open in Safari.
Apple Silicon equipped Macs can also side load apps and install iPhone apps to the Mac and run them natively, so you could also take that approach to run Instagram on the Mac too. Third party tools like iMazing also be used for this purpose, by making it easy to get the Instagram IPA file form the iPhone and copy it to the Mac, where it will run like any other MacOS application, but in the iPhone screen ratio. For this reason, most users prefer the experience of using Instagram on the Mac through Safari, since it’s better optimized for larger screen devices, like the Mac.
Why is Instagram not compatible with my MacBook?
Installing Instagram as an app in the Mac Dock requires macOS Sonoma or later. Earlier versions of MacOS do not have this capacity, however you can access Instagram from a MacBook by adding website shortcuts to the Dock. You can do this in all versions of MacOS, and you could use that to add a bookmark to Instagram.com in the Mac Dock.
Does Instagram have a desktop app for Mac?
No. Many Mac users have long wanted an Instagram app for macOS, but Meta (FaceBook/Instagram) has thus far not heeded the call to build one directly.