Instagram can eat up hours of your life from your little phone screen, but the web app has lacked the same appeal. For the most part, all you’ve been able to do from a laptop is like and comment on photos. Even navigating the website isn’t as easy and intuitive as the famously addictive mobile app.
A new update has just changed that. This week, Instagram added a host of new features to the browser version of their social network, and people are loving it.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The most significant change is that you can now view and post stories from a desktop — making Instagram more of a two-way street. Now students in lecture halls have one more way to be distracted without taking out their forbidden phones. People are already taking to Twitter to mourn the sudden loss of their productivity.
Getting Stories on the desktop version of Instagram is the worst thing that’s happened to my productivity since, well, Instagram.
โ Maxine Builder (@maxine_builder) November 20, 2017
So, Instastories on Instagram desktop. Look at me, never not finding new ways to procrastinate ๐ pic.twitter.com/RM5UQnt2r0
โ Sasha (@thelifenotes_) November 20, 2017
The update isn’t perfect just yet. On the web app, users can only post still photos with text over them โ no videos, and no filters yet. In addition, you can only post to your story, not your account itself.
However, many are guessing that these updates are on the way as well. Instagram reportedly made the update in response to increased desktop traffic. There’s no reason not to assume that they’ll continue giving the people what they want.