Enter Flow. Please note: Flow is not the official Instagram app or even a full fledged client. While it provides you with a wonderful interface to browse your Instagram feed and interact with the content, it does not let you capture or share photos or videos.
Flow For Instagram
Once you log in with your Instagram ID, Flow presents you with a couple of 15 second tutorial videos to get you acquainted with the app. They are surely worth the time. Once in, you get a narrow sidebar with all your options and an infinite horizontal scroll of your Instagram feed. Here, you get a grid of thumbnails that really take advantage of iPad’s large screen. Tapping on the image brings you a photo pop up quite similar to the Instagram website. From here you can double tap to Like or Unlike the picture (the unlike animation is quite nice) and add your own comment. Once in the photo view, just swipe right for the next picture.
The Good
Bookmark
Flow will let you bookmark (star) users, tags and locations. So if you follow a lot of users but always want to stay up to date with your inner circle without scrolling through your whole timeline, just Star them and you can get to their feed quickly from the Bookmark icon in the sidebar.
Explore
Explore is the Flow equivalent of trending on Twitter. Here you can see the top Charts, Shops and Tags for any country you please. And of course, right by the side, is the infinite scrolling timeline for the option you select.
Search
The Search feature works really well with Flow. From this one sidebar you can search for any tag, user or place, follow any user and browse their feed.
The Really Good
When Instagram was updated in October last year, it took away the option to disable autoplay videos, which caused an outrage by Instagram fans all over the world. But thankfully, Flow does provide you with an option to disable autoplay videos and you can find it in Settings.
The Bad
Flow is so well made that the only fault I can think of is that it’s not the official Instagram app. If Flow allowed you to capture and share Instagram images and videos, it would be the perfect app. Flow is not the complete package, but all that Flow does do, it does really well.
Your Gram
Do you use Instagram? If you do, what’s your preferred medium and what are some of your favorite Instagram tips and tricks? Do let us know in the comments below.
