Instagram for Chrome

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on August 07, 2012

What do UFOs, Bigfoot, and the end of the rainbow have in common? They're all hiding from the billion or so human beings walking around with cell phone cameras, ready to catch them in an unguarded moment, each hoping to be the first to post it and share it. And so we have Instagram. As if it weren't already too easy to jazz up and post your pics on Instagram, now you can use Instagram's API directly inside your Web browser with Instagram for Chrome, a free extension from 64 Pixels. With it, you can access your Instagram feed, like and comment on pictures, and do anything you can do with the Instagram app on your smartphone. You don't even need a smartphone to use Instagram for Chrome, but you will need an Instagram account.

Instagram for Chrome installs like any Chrome extension: quickly, easily, and painlessly, though the installer notes that the extension will be able to access your data at api.instagram.com and instagram64px.com as well as your physical location. That won't be an issue for most users since they're already using Instagram via their phones, but we like to know these things anyway. When the installation finished, the Instagram for Chrome page opened in a new tab, in case we needed more info, and the program's icon appeared on Chrome's toolbar. Like all Chrome extensions, it's managed from the Extensions tab, but the app itself doesn't have any options; all that business takes place online. The site's layout is like a scaled-up version of the phone app, with browser-specific controls, but otherwise familiar; clicking on any name or hash tag let us browse with our mouse almost as naturally as with a touchscreen.

Using Instagram for Chrome is basically just like using Instagram, only in Chrome. If that sounds like the simplest, easiest solution, that's because it is, and that's why Instagram for Chrome is the best Instagram browser extension we've tried, in Chrome or the competition. The only thing it can't do is capture that candid snap of Sasquatch. You'll still need your smartphone for that, so be prepared!