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Is there a software which allows me posting to Instagram from Ubuntu? (I don't have a smartphone.)

empedokles
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3 Answers3

9

You can use chromeos-apk

It lets you run most android apps as a chrome browser plugin. Luckily instagram seems to run.

chromeos-apk is a tool developed by Vlad Filippov to run android apps on any platforms such as Windows, Linux, OSX.

On Ubuntu, open a Terminal window. Run the following two commands to install and set up node.js:

sudo apt-get install nodejs npm

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/bin/node

Next, install the chromeos-apk tool:

sudo npm install chromeos-apk -g

Make a directory in your home folder

mkdir apks

then download runtime library in this link Archon extract it into apks directory, I used 32bitArchon

Open your chrome or chromium browser version number is higher than 38, then (Chrome > "Hamburger" menu > Tools > Extensions), click Enable developer mode, and use the Load unpacked extension button to load the Archon runtime library.

Finally, download an android app with apk extension, move it to apks folder, open terminal in it and run 

chromeos-apk nameofapp.apk --tablet

and load it as extension like we loaded Archon,

Launch it and enjoy!

kenn
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    Would you mind adding some more information on, e.g. installation of it? Else, it's an link-only answer, which is rather low quality. – s3lph Jan 01 '15 at 14:06
  • kenn: I'm even suspecting it's so low quality if will be automatically deleted if you don't flesh it out a bit. – Fabby Jan 01 '15 at 14:26
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    Overly complicated, seems a marketgap for serious programmers. – empedokles Jan 02 '15 at 13:59
  • How do i get ahold of the *.apk file? There seems to be no way to actually download it. – v010dya Nov 12 '16 at 15:04
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    @v010dya this link is easier http://apk-dl.com/ – kenn Nov 12 '16 at 15:21
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    Thanks, but now on the extension page, as soon as i try to load it says "There is no "message" element for key extName". I tried to look at JSON file, there's no extName parameter, but that string is within a "message" parameter. Does anybody know how to fix that? – v010dya Nov 12 '16 at 18:12
  • @v010dya You can get such messages, ignore them and try to launch the app. If it doesn't run you can try different versions. – kenn Nov 12 '16 at 20:02
  • Are you saying two new folders, mkdir AND apks? – That One Actor Mar 26 '17 at 03:17
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    @JustWondering gray lines mean commands executed in terminal, `mkdir` is a commad to create a folder(directory) – kenn Mar 28 '17 at 10:21
  • Can anyone confirm if this still works? chromeos-apk was last updated two years ago, there are >150 issues filed, and [many](https://github.com/vladikoff/chromeos-apk/issues/241) [of](https://github.com/vladikoff/chromeos-apk/issues/208) [them](https://github.com/vladikoff/chromeos-apk/issues/231) [relate](https://github.com/vladikoff/chromeos-apk/issues/225) to Instagram not working. – Sparhawk Jun 07 '17 at 12:45
  • @Sparhawk I don't know if it still works, it should work. You can also try https://github.com/terkelg/ramme – kenn Jun 07 '17 at 12:49
  • @kenn I don't know about "should" given that it appears abandoned! `ramme` works adequately though (although still doesn't appear to have feature parity with the Instagram app). You should put that in your answer! – Sparhawk Jun 07 '17 at 13:23
2

Another way is to trick instagram.com into thinking you are using a mobile phone.

The following method has been tested on Ubuntu 17.04 with Firefox 60.0. On 14.04 (as tagged in the question), or with other browsers, things may differ a bit, but it should be possible.

  • Log in to instagram.com .
  • Type CTRL+SHIFT+M to open the "responsive design mode".
  • At the top of the virtual screen inside the window, you should see "no device select"; select any device (e.g. treat yourself with a Samsung S7 ;-).
  • Reload the page.
  • At the bottom of the virtual screen, you should see toolbar with a + button.
  • Post away :)
Pierre-Antoine
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1

maybe you've bought a smartphone by now, but just in case,

Steps

  1. press, Ctrl+Shift+I
  2. then press, the second option from, top left -- toggle device toolbar
  3. then, refresh the page, and you are done.

Cons

  • you cannot upload multiple photos, through this process.
commonSense
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