For as long as it's been around, Instagram has been a smartphone-oriented social network that doesn't extend to tablet devices and even lacks many basic features in its web browser incarnation, including the ability to post. However, that could be set to change, if a recently unearthed internal feature test ever goes public.
Developer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi has discovered Instagram code that strongly suggests the Facebook-owned platform is already working on the ability to upload photos and videos from a desktop web browser.
Based on images Paluzzi shared on Twitter, browser-based Instagram users could soon be offered the ability to natively drag and drop photos and videos from their computer for upload, as well as crop the content, apply filters, and compose accompanying text for publishing to the social network.
#Instagram is working on the ability to create posts from the desktop website 👀 pic.twitter.com/pATuOHiTGE — Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) May 14, 2021
It's still not clear when the features will go live, and there's no mention of Stories creation being supported within a browser. And given Instagram's long-established focus on smartphone-originating content, the company could well decide to abandon the web feature test altogether.
Meanwhile, there's still no word on an official Instagram app that's built specifically for iPad, so if these web-based features do make it out of testing, they could offer an alternative workflow for tablet users.
