Grids for Instagram

Pros

• Four different layouts allow you to browse your feed how you want
• A very pretty interface that looks like it was built internally by Apple

Cons

• Not many options for sharing photos on other social media platforms

Grids for Instagram is a way to browse through your Instagram feed without having to use a browser, and while it offers a smart and attractive interface and serves as perhaps the best platform of its kind on the market, the inherent limitations of Instagram as a platform prevents this from being a truly killer app for professional, aspiring, and amateur photographers. It's a shame, because the problem fundamentally has nothing to do with the creators of Grids. Instagram has catered their platform to mobile users since the starting gun fired, and while that's a sensible move given how many people rely on their phones for their everyday activities, it's somewhat odd that they've let the features desktop users have been looking for languish for so long. The desktop interface is incredibly counter intuitive, lacking in some truly fundamental features that you'll find in the mobile version, and a bit ugly to look at. Grids looks to change those problems in a primal manner, and it more or less succeeds in that regard.

From the start, this feels like a Mac app, and that's largely because it is. Built initially with Apple products in mind, Grids has since been ported over to Windows 10, and while it looks remarkably good, it may take some time to get used to. The minimalist structure of Apple products is on prominent display here. It's not a first party product, but if the design is anything to go by, it very well could be. You have four options for how you view the photos in your Instagram feed. If you're just looking to sift through the photos in your feed, you'll want to go with the Square structure which lays out everything in a nice and visually appealing grid with no excessive clutter to worry about. The other four formats feed in the information about the photos you see with increasing density. Brief feeds user details into each photo, Vertical does an admirable job of replicating the traditional layout of the Instagram app, and Horizontal offers information and pictures side by side. Each is well implemented, and they should provide a little of something to suit just about everyone's tastes.

Grids does more than just expand on the browsing experience of Instagram on desktops. It also allows you to log in to multiple accounts and to save favorites across all of those accounts. This is an incredibly useful addition, and it's something that Instagram hasn't yet manage to replicate even through their dedicated mobile app.

But the elephant in the room is sharing. While you can zoom in and comment on pictures directly through the program, sharing options are woefully underrepresented. You're forced to either copy the URL or save it directly to your hard drive, creating unnecessary steps if you're looking to post your favorite pics on other social media platforms. Despite these limitations, Grids really brings a lot to the desktop Instagram experience, and it's a worthwhile tool for anyone who wants to use this social service on their computer with any regularity.

Pros

• Four different layouts allow you to browse your feed how you want
• A very pretty interface that looks like it was built internally by Apple

Cons

• Not many options for sharing photos on other social media platforms