Instagram iPhone app gets share extensions, finally letting people post pictures from anywhere

The tweak fixes perhaps the biggest annoyance about using the Instagram app on iOS

A most popular Instagram page is displayed on a mobile device screen in Pasadena, California (Reuters/Mario Anzuoni)

Instagram will now let anybody share pictures from anywhere on their phone, fixing the biggest problem with its iOS app.

The company has finally enabled share extensions so that it’s easy to share from photos or anywhere else on the phone.

The feature has long been available for almost every other app – including those from its owner Facebook. But it might be more useful than any of those for Instagram, since it makes it easy to send photos from the photo library or anyone else.

Share extensions can be triggered from many apps that have a photo in, and are usually opened by clicking the little share button in any particular app. In the Photos app, for instance, people can just open a photo and then click the little rectangular share box – allowing them to share a photo without ever opening the app.

From the share extension, people can choose to write a small message to post alongside the photo – after which it will be uploaded. For any more special features like filters or editing, users will have to click through to the app.

Third-party extensions first arrived with iOS 8 in 2014. Since then many apps have integrated them as a way of sharing things or doing other functions without actually having to open the app, cutting down the amount of bother needed to send things out.

But Instagram – despite being all about encouraging people to share their own photos and videos – didn’t ever seem to get around to integrating the feature within its app, despite going through a complete overhaul and re-design since they were released. But now it has been pushed out in the latest version of the app, which can be found in the App Store.

Perhaps the last remaining frustration for many iOS users is that there is no official Instagram app for iPad. The only way of officially viewing photos on a tablet is to head to the Instagram website, which is lacking many features of the mobile app.