If you've ever seen me glued to my iPhone, huddled on the corner of the 23rd St subway station fidgeting with my stupid hot pink nails trying to Instagram Story, then now you are about to find out exactly what I've been doing. I've been hiding those tags, stickers, and locati ...more
I spent just about my entire weekend trying to break the 800, 900, and 1,000 levels of Instagram — because it's a game, y'all — by playing around with my follower count. I shamelessly manipulated my IG account in such a way that was extremely time consuming and left many of my ...more
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more
Just because augmented reality is the technology of the future doesn't mean it can't reach into the past of computing. Shared via Twitter on Monday, Instagram product designer George Kedenburg III has published the "Desktop 96" camera effect, which emulates the classic deskto ...more
Instagram Stories is one of the most flexible ways to share creative and original content with your followers. It allows you to alter text, markup images, and add cool graphics and stickers, along with other fun ways of expressing yourself. The way you can use Stories goes be ...more
With Snapchat making the leap into the smartglasses realm, Facebook had to find a way to try and steal its competitor's augmented reality thunder. On Tuesday, the social media giant took the opportunity to fulfill its promise from this year's F8 developers conference, as Spar ...more
To stand out on Instagram, you need more than just the great camera on the Galaxy S20. You have to think like a professional photographer, which means two things: using manual mode and editing your photos. It is only with the latter that what you imagine becomes a reality. Th ...more
Instagram introduced a new feature in September 2018 that lets you share other users' Stories via Instagram Direct, the app's private messaging tool for solo and group messages. Problem is, it works both ways, so whenever you add to your ephemeral Story, everybody that sees it ...more
The developer who gained notoriety for his What Disney Are You? augmented reality filter on Instagram is striking again while the iron is hot. This time around, content creator Arno Partissimo has brewed up a version of the filter for Harry Potter fans via Spark AR, Facebook' ...more
You're in constant communication with your friends and family. The only issue? Nobody uses the same app. Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp — you have contacts spanning all three, and the resulting balancing-act to keep in touch can be overwhelming. That's why Facebook — who owns ...more
Sometimes, you'll see a comment on Instagram that you really need to share. Maybe it's something funny, possibly offensive. Whatever the case, the only thing to do is screenshot it and share that, right? Hopefully, not for long. Instagram is currently testing a feature that wo ...more
On Tuesday, on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of its AR Camera platform, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg revealed at the company's F8 developers conference that the platform will be extended to the company's Instagram and Messenger apps. Users of the In ...more
The cosmetics brands are among the earliest adopters of augmented reality, using virtual try-on tools to preview shades of makeup before buying. But, on Monday, fashion brand Christian Dior took a different approach, using Facebook's Spark AR platform on Instagram to deliver ...more
Going live on Instagram is a fun way to interact with your followers. It lets you forgo the usual meticulous editing and framing in exchange for giving your friends and fans a glimpse into your real, unfiltered life. Now, your followers don't need to be separate from that expe ...more
Typing out thirty hashtags on Instagram is always such an annoying process. Figuring out the best hashtags to use to get more likes is also tricky. You can't just keep copying and pasting the same hashtags on every post — that's like attacking the same tribe every time. You go ...more
Geotagging your location on Instagram is one of the most undervalued ways to generate traffic to your profile. The beauty about adding your location to your IG posts is that it allows you to be seen by other users than the ones that already follow you. This is great because u ...more
I saw this dead cat on the side of the road going to my school. He was struck by a rushing car. #Teary eye
Last week, we covered a new, open-source live wallpaper (LWP) called Muzei, and less than a week later we have no less than twenty beautiful add-on extensions to the app. Muzei uses subtle blur and dim effects to create aesthetically pleasing LWPs. The app takes free works of ...more
Boomerangs are perhaps the quintessential story tool on Instagram. Surprisingly, there's never been much to them — point and shoot, and your subject plays forward and backward in a never-ending loop. Perhaps its prolonged simplicity inspired Instagram to give Boomerangs a bit ...more
Starbucks is spicing things up ahead of this holiday season with a little augmented reality joy. This week the company launched its first Instagram filter, called Holijoy, delivered like an early Christmas gift and packing four seasonal lenses. Don't Miss: Coca-Cola Opens a ...more
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more
Decorating your Instagram Stories with different types of markups is a good way to engage your audience in what you are doing. You can customize the brightness and adjust the coloring of your markup and text right though the Stories feature. All you have to do is find the pho ...more
Wedding days are so special and memorable, so we set out to make ours stand apart from the rest! Most people just walk down the isle, but not us. Marriage is all about trust and support!
Your Instagram bio could always be used to link to other websites or profiles or just to show off your witty personality. Now, you also have the ability to use this section to tag other Instagram accounts as well as add tappable hashtags. Whether you want to link out to your b ...more
Instagram recently rolled out their new Layout app that helps users build photo collages more easily, and it's quick and easy to use with great results. Unfortunately, only those with an iOS device can enjoy Layout at the moment, with the Android version slated for release "in ...more
One tweet can get your fired from your job. At least, in the cases of Gilbert Gottfried, Rashard Mendenhall, Ozzie Guillen, and Mike Bacsik, who were all either fired or forced to resign from their jobs after posting regrettable tweets online. An ex-GOP aide for Jeb Bush was ...more
This is probably one of the coolest Instagram hacks I've come across. I never knew that there could be an actual formula for creating the perfect feed, but the fact that someone thought of it is really awesome. If you've ever wanted to make your Instagram feed look like an in ...more
Facebook recently hit a snag in its quest to take augmented reality face effects to its millions of users. After a media firestorm over a new plastic surgery filter called "FixMe," provoked by concerns from mental health charities, Facebook has decided to ban plastic surgery ...more
Android devices are awesome, let me just state that now, but when iOS 7 came out, the new flat theme caught my eye. Yes, we can easily apply new themes on our Nexus 7 tablets to make it look more like iOS 7, but they won't actually change the individual look and feel of apps l ...more
There are a few ways to do this, but I'm going to share with you the easiest way that I know how to share an image on Instagram Stories that isn't currently in your Stories queue. At the moment, Instagram only lets you post photos from the last 24 hours to your Stories. If yo ...more
In late 2012, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom made a sudden and controversial change to his social media service when he removed Twitter Card support. This was seen as a move not only against Twitter in their supposed "feud" against competitor Facebook (who bought Instagram earli ...more
Instagram integrated Stories back in 2016, and it flew right by Snapchat as a whole, becoming a bigger success itself than the whole entire Snapchat app. Still, the constant bombardment of information can be tiring in Instagram, so much so that you may want to mediate what Sto ...more
Does your Activity page on Instagram feel cluttered? You're not alone. Instagram lumps all alerts into one long, chaotic timeline, so if you want to see comments or likes, you have to weed through everything else including shares from other users, memories, recommendations, an ...more
Android users who have been itching for Instagram have finally got their wish. The company seems to have been promising a version for Android since what feels like the beginning of time. Well, Android fans need not stay in the dark, because Instagram CEO, Kevin Systrom, state ...more
Watch out Instagram, there's a new free, sociable photography filter app that hit the iTunes App Store recently, and it just might be some good competition. It's called PicYou and might sound familiar to some of you photo sharing fiends out there. That's because it's been a su ...more
Although Instagram's summer stickers will only be here for the summer, the ice cream cone is still currently one of the most fun ones to play around with in Stories. It's also one of the stickers that lets you pick your preferred flavor of ice cream, rather than forcing just o ...more
For the longest time, Instagram didn't have a native collage feature. If you wanted to post a story with an assortment of photos, you'd need to use the company's Layout app or a third-party collage maker. Thankfully, that is no longer the case since Instagram now bakes Layout ...more
Is your Instagram feed a bit cluttered? Maybe you're seeing posts from people you don't even recognize. Perhaps the content isn't interesting. Whatever the case, it's common after years of having an account to follow too many users whose posts just aren't doing it anymore. Luc ...more
After opening up its Spark AR platform on Instagram for all creators, Facebook is already expanding the platform's capabilities on its Snapchat killer. On Monday, the company released version 76 of Spark AR Studio, which brings support for two new AR effect options for develo ...more
Fashion brand Christian Dior is using augmented reality as a carrot to drive up their follower counts on Instagram. Consumers who follow Christian Dior on Instagram can now unlock a virtual try-on experience for DiorSoLight sunglasses and headbands through the Stories feature ...more
For me, there's nothing better than popping on a favorite show or new movie after a long day at the office — except when there's a friend or two I can talk to about that crazy ending. Netflix doesn't double as a social media app, so you can't chat about what you're watching th ...more
I've possibly been really out of it for a long time not to have realized that Instagram has a bunch of hidden filters. Clarendon seems to be by number one filter for pics and videos, but maybe that's exactly what I've been doing wrong. To access these wonderful secret filters ...more
In the U.S., smartphone users spend more time on Facebook and Instagram than on any other app. If this sounds surprising for any reason, it shouldn't. Anyone that's browsed Instagram in a moment of boredom knows that a few minutes can quickly turn into an hour down a rabbit ho ...more
With the upcoming Memorial Day weekend serving as the unofficial start of summer, Pepsi is turning to Instagram to help sell its soft drinks to quench the thirst of beachgoers and BBQers. This week, Pepsi kicked off its #Summergram (yes, with the hashtag symbol) campaign with ...more
Instagram's controversial terms of service update this past month has spurred an onslaught of dismay and anger from users of the popular photo-sharing social network. The specific set of the new terms that set off this firestorm basically said that businesses could use your up ...more
When it comes to shooting a great Instagram story, spontaneity is often key. Who doesn't love seeing something unexpected pop up on their feed? That said, to catch those moments, you need to be quick, and the standard method for opening Instagram's Story camera isn't that. Ins ...more
In Tidal, you could always share a link to your favorite playlist, song, artist, album, or video via a text message, email, or social media post. But if you wanted to share to Instagram Stories or Facebook Stories, you were out of luck. That all changes with Tidal's new sharin ...more
Instagram updated its iOS and Android apps recently with an "Activity Status" indicator. This status allows your friends to see when you are currently active and when you were last active on Instagram. The problem is, Instagram was pretty quiet about this update, so many of yo ...more
So, according to Sprout Social, mentioning an Instagram handle in the caption of your posts increases audience engagement by up to 56 percent. If true, that's pretty impressive. (Like anything with Instagram, what works today might not work tomorrow, so you have to stay vigil ...more
Changing the look and feel of an app's user interface can really make it more pleasurable. Popular apps like Facebook or Twitter may take for granted the importance of a clean UI, since the companies have hundreds of millions of users no matter what their apps look like. Howe ...more
This is not my baby. I swear. Used the X-Pro II filter.
While Snapchat had a head start in making augmented camera effects popular on smartphones, Facebook has spent the past few years in hot pursuit, with no less than three apps offering mobile AR experiences, plus its Portal hardware lineup of smart home devices. Facebook's late ...more
You see them all over your Instagram Stories feed — post after post, video after video of dramatic, silly, or otherwise fun zooms. Your friends are showing off their lives through the lens of a Hollywood blockbuster, and you can do the same. Luckily, it's quite easy to accompl ...more
When watching stories in your Instagram feed, there's a high probability that you'll come across an AR filter that you'll want to try out for yourself. A quick browse and search in the Effect Gallery will bring up nothing in most cases. But all of that unproductive work isn't ...more
If you're one of the many that likes to upload collages to Instagram, the Facebook company has a new tool for you. Instagram released a brand new app in March called Layout to help facilitate the process of creating photo layouts to post onto social media or just share with fr ...more
From Instagram bot farms in China all the way to vending machines in Moscow that promise to sell you fake followers — the Facebook-owned empire is attracting the attention of the world around. When it comes to Russia especially, the country seems to be developing a little crus ...more
If social media apps were houses in a neighborhood and augmented reality photo effects were candy, then Facebook went to Costco and brought home a full pallet of treats. The Facebook app for iOS and Android, and its Messenger companion (also for iOS and Android), offer up mor ...more
I noticed the neon yellow sign at the new location of Pho Bar in Chinatown right away. The sweeping cursive yellow letters spell out "Crazy Rich Broth"; the same phrase printed on the back of servers' shirts. It's the kind of minimalist but colorful design feature that is espe ...more
As Alfred monologued in The Dark Knight, "Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." Or, they just want to watch random objects burn on Instagram. Video: . ...more
Time is money, so there's profit to be had in tricks and shortcuts that make daily tasks faster on your iPhone. Take Instagram, for example. You can cut out a whole step in the posting process using this one, simple trick. Don't open the app yet. Seriously. Instead, long-pres ...more