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How to Watch Instagram Live on Computer/Phone/TV

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Solved - How to Watch Instagram Live on Computer/Phone/TV

By Cora | Follow | Last Updated September 06, 2022

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Instagram Live allows you to watch video streams from the users you follow in real-time, and you can watch Instagram Liv videos on the computer, mobile phone, and even on TV. But how to find and watch Instagram Live on computer, phone, and TV? Here we offer some solutions.

With the Instagram Live feature, you can watch live videos on Instagram. And this post will describe how to watch Instagram Live on computer, phone, and TV. If you’d like to create an awesome Instagram video, try MiniTool MovieMaker.

How to Watch Instagram Live on Computer?

How to watch Instagram Live on computer? You just need to open a web browser and go to Instagram. com. And you can watch Instagram Live on computer via Instagram.com on almost all operating systems (Windows and Mac) and popular web browsers. Here’s the guide.

Step 1. Open your web browser and navigate to Instagram.com, then log in with your account.

Step 2. When the user you follow is live streaming video, the profile picture will appear at the top of the Feed with a LIVE icon.

Step 3. Tap on the profile picture with the LIVE icon to view the live broadcast.

Step 4. Then you’ll enter the live room and watch the live video. While viewing live broadcasts, you can click the Add a comment at the bottom right of the screen to leave your comment.

Step 5. If you want to stop the live broadcast, click the X in the top right corner.

Need to download Instagram Live videos? Check out this post - How to Download Instagram Live Videos – Ultimate Guide.

How to Watch Instagram Live on Phone?

Step 1. Open Instagram app on your phone and sign in with your Instagram account.

Step 2. In the Stories section, find the users you follow whose profile picture has a LIVE icon and choose one Live stream you’d like to watch.

Step 3. Click the profile picture to watch the Live. If you want to leave a comment, click the Comment and then type your words.

Note: If some people have shared their live broadcast to the IGTV, you can see it in their IGTV videos on the profile.

Also read: How to Upload Video to Instagram – 2 Methods

How to Watch Instagram Live on TV?

If you want to watch Instagram Live with a large screen, you can use a casting or screen mirroring device to enjoy it on TV. You can cast Instagram Live videos to TV using Chromecast on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, or use the Airplay on Mac and iOS with Apple TV, or cast Instagram Live to Roku.

You may also like: How to Share a YouTube Video on Instagram? Solved

How to Start a Live Broadcast on Instagram?

This part will show how to start an Instagram Live from the Instagram app.

Step 1. Open the Instagram app, click your profile picture, or swipe right anywhere in Feed to make the camera icon appear.

Step 2. At bottom of the screen, click the LIVE or swipe right to switch to a live video stream.

Step 3. Click the gear icon in the upper left corner of the Live screen to complete some settings for the live broadcast.

Step 4. After the settings are done, go back to the Live screen. Tap on Go Live to start your Instagram Live.

Step 5. Once the broadcast is done, click the End. Then you can save the video to the camera roll or share it to IGTV.

Conclusion

That’s all about how to watch Instagram Live. Now you can try the above solutions to enjoy Instagram Live videos on computer, phone, and TV. Also, you can follow the above steps to go live on Instagram.

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Here's Everything You Need to Know

Instagram Live lets you broadcast video to your followers in real-time as part of Instagram Stories — a feature that launched in August and is now used by 100 million people every day.

One key difference between Instagram Live video and existing live broadcasting products like Facebook live and Periscope is that Instagram Live video is completely ephemeral: as soon as the broadcast ends, the video disappears. No replays.

Alongside live video, Instagram has also launched another ephemeral Snapchat-like feature in its direct messages, enabling users to send disappearing videos and photos to individuals and groups within Instagram Direct.

Live video will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks and disappearing messages in Instagram Direct will be live across the globe today. Let’s dive in and show you how you can use Instagram’s newest features.

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Getting to know Live Video on Instagram Stories

Live video on Instagram Stories helps you connect with your friends and followers right now, in the moment.

Going live takes just a couple of steps from the Instagram stories camera, and when you’re done broadcasting, your video will disappear as soon as the stream stops, which could encourage more Instagrammers to jump on and feel more comfortable sharing live content. On the other hand, the fact that the content will no longer be viewable once the stream ends also creates a state of urgency for viewers to ensure that they don’t miss out.

How to share live video

Going live on Instagram is pretty straightforward — just swipe right from the feed to open the camera, select “Live” and tap the “Start Live Video” button to start sharing:

Live videos on Instagram can last for up to an hour, and followers may get a notification when you go live so they can tune in and interact with you during the broadcast.

While you’re live, you can pin a comment for everyone to see or turn comments off altogether. Pinned comments could be a great way to frame the video and let everyone know what’s going on — a pinned comment could also be a great way to encourage interaction and responses from your audience.

Update: You can now start a live video with another person, which is perfect for interviews and collaborations. To invite someone to your live video, tap on the icon with two smiley faces and tap on his or her name. (You can only invite someone who is viewing your live video.) To join someone else’s live video, tap “Request” and then “Send Request”. Have fun!

How to tell when other Instagrammers are live

Since Instagram live videos disappear as soon as the broadcast ends, discovering the best live streams and the streams of Instagrammers you follow is incredibly important. When someone you follow starts a live video story on Instagram, you’ll see “Live” under their profile photo in the stories bar (and you may also get a notification):

Instagram’s Explore tab will also feature current live stories and there will also be an option to tap “Top Live” to see what videos are trending in that moment based on number of viewers, location and engagement. You’ll be able to skip around the trending live videos by swiping right and left, making it incredibly easy to jump between live stories.

P.S. You can get started with Buffer for Instagram for free right here.

5 ways brands could use Instagram live video

1. Office hours / Q&A sessions

Live video is a great way to answer questions from your audience in an engaging way. It’s a perfect way to invite your audience to interact with some of your team and to show the people behind your brand. By opening up to questions in real time, you can use live video to build strong relationships with your audience.

2. Launches and announcements

Social media is a two-way street, and it works best when you’re listening to your audience as well as sharing content with them. Live video provides the opportunity to do both.

With a live video to celebrate a product launch or big announcement, you can let the world know about your big news and also interact with your audience at the same time. For an example of this, Nissan live streamed the launch of one if its latest models at the New York auto show.

3. Take people behind-the-scenes

Many brands have used Instagram stories to take users behind-the-scenes in a myriad of situations, from what’s going on in the office to the set of their latest advert. Live video adds another element to what is already some of the most engaging content shared to Instagram stories.

With Instagram live video, we’ll likely see more brands, influencers, and celebrities taking users behind-the-scenes and sharing a transparent look into their world.

4. Interviews, collaborations and takeovers

When Airbnb partnered with Disney as part of their Live There marketing campaign, they turned to Facebook live as a way to stream interviews from the red carpet at the Jungle Book premiere.

Not all of us have the ability share interviews with famous movies stars from the red carpet, but we could create interesting interviews with influencers from our niche or even other members of our team. For example, you could interview a designer about how they designed your latest feature or link up with a well-known blogger in your niche and run a live interview.

Takeovers have also been extremely popular on Instagram stories, with brands teaming up to create content for each other’s stories and we’ll likely see this tactic transition to Instagram live video as well.

5. Experimental content

One of the most famous examples of live video online is when Buzzfeed took to Facebook live and stretched rubber bands over a watermelon until it eventually burst. This video had the perfect mix of weirdness and unpredictability and kept users engaged.

The video has now amassed over 11 million views on Facebook and at its peak had over 800,000 people watching live. When it comes to live video, don’t be afraid to try something experimental and think a little outside the box.

Disappearing photos and videos in Instagram Direct

The second feature Instagram have debuted today is disappearing photos and videos within Instagram Direct. In a move that again edges Instagram ever closer to Snapchat, Instagrammers will be able to send disappearing photos and videos directly to groups and individual friends.

Since Instagram made improvements to the way to their direct messaging system worked last year, the number of people who use Instagram Direct each month has grown from 80 million to 300 million — with many of these users turning to group threads every day to stay in touch with their closest friends and family.

How to send a disappearing message on Instagram

To send an ephemeral photo or video simply swipe right into the camera to take a photo or video, then tap the arrow to send it privately:

After clicking on the arrow to send the message you can choose a pre-existing group to send it to or create a new one in just a few taps — and you can also send to individual friends at the same time. These messages disappear from the recipient’s inboxes once they have viewed them once. And you’ll also see if they replayed it or took a screenshot.

It’s also worth noting that, whether your account is set to public or private, you can only send disappearing photos and videos to people who follow you.

Viewing messages in Instagram Direct

Once this update is live for you, you’ll notice a new paper airplane icon at the top right corner of your feed – this will take you directly to your inbox – alternatively, you can also swipe right to get to your inbox. Disappearing photos and videos in a bar at the top, similar to the way stories are displayed in the main Instagram feed.

Within the bar, blue rings will indicate new disappearing messages. Instagram Direct will remember your groups. So if you send an Instagram story to three people, Instagram saves that group in your Direct inbox so you can keep the thread going easily, rather than replying to each person in the group individually.

Another great group messaging feature is that in a group message, you can see everyone’s responses — and who else has seen them — in a slideshow format. Then when you’re done, just tap their faded profile photo to send a quick response.

Over to you

What are your thoughts on Instagram’s latest features? Are you excited to test out live video on Instagram? Will disappearing messages threaten Snapchat at all? Share your thoughts in the comments and I’d be excited to join the conversation.

Share your thoughts in the comments and I’d be excited to join the conversation.

We recently launched one of our biggest product enhancements, Buffer for Instagram, to help you plan, track and amplify your Instagram marketing.

Check out another Instagram release: IGTV, long-form video on Instagram

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How to watch live on Instagram

The rapidly growing Instagram application used for sharing photos and videos is at its peak today. With each update, users are offered more and more opportunities, thanks to which the social network is already becoming global. The implementation of the live broadcast function further fueled the interest of the public. In fact, this is an online video recording with the possibility of commenting, which can also be saved. Thanks to this feature, celebrities, businessmen, bloggers, as well as ordinary users can broadcast live for various purposes (for example, communicating with fans, live advertising, informing subscribers about the company's work, services, and other points). Mere mortals can now reach for the stars by spying on someone else's life through Instagram. People whose accounts were created in support of their professional activities have new opportunities to increase interest in their person, product, etc.

The idea, by the way, is not new, similar functionality has already been implemented in Facebook and Periscope, however, a new feature in Instagram that appeared in early 2017 attracted everyone's attention and was warmly received by the public. So now live broadcasts on Instagram are the number one trend. Anyone can capture the attention of an audience. At the same time, the live broadcasts of Instagram profile owners do not always carry a semantic load, so do not be surprised if the host of the broadcast behaves strangely, inappropriate behavior is not uncommon. Since the function is available to everyone and everyone, in a fit of frantic desire to speak out and express themselves, users sometimes forget about decency. Basically, the broadcasts are still thematic and are created for a specific purpose, whether it is attraction to a business, contact with subscribers, training, etc., or maybe the broadcaster just wanted to share his thoughts on any occasion. Not all users know how to find and watch a live broadcast on Instagram, we will deal with this issue.

How to find a live broadcast on Instagram

Broadcasts are displayed on the top bar above the news feed, where the stories are. So, if the user you are following is now live, then the thumbnail of his account will be surrounded by a colored ring, and the corresponding inscription “Live” will appear under it. You can join the view from the profile of the person who records the video online (a standard button in the form of a triangle "Play" will be available at the bottom of the user's avatar). Only the user who organized the shooting can save content to devices for subsequent publication or other purposes, but this function is not available to viewers, so other people's saved broadcasts can be viewed when the profile owner posts them on their page. At the same time, at the top of the record, it will be indicated when this broadcast was held.

Popular Instagram live streams can be viewed from the main search page. At the same time, the video is available in the recommendations if it is viewed by more than 500 users. You can receive notifications about the start of broadcasts if you subscribe to a profile. Thus, the organization of communication with subscribers is more efficient. The profile owner also has the opportunity to hide the broadcast from certain persons by specifying them in the settings, because no matter what the purpose of the broadcast is (increase the number of subscribers, inform about something, etc.), different personalities can join it, including including unwanted ones.

How to watch from your phone

You can connect to the broadcast at any time of the broadcast, you don't have to log in at the beginning, and you can also watch a friend's recorded live broadcast if he posted it on his Instagram page. A confident user does not have questions about how to do this, but many users have just begun to join the ranks of Instagram fans and have not yet had time to navigate. Watching a broadcast from an iOS or Android phone is very simple:

First you need to open the application on your smartphone and log in.
We see thumbnails above the publication feed, select the desired profile (in a colored circle with the inscription “Live”) or find a popular broadcast in the search. If you are not subscribed to the user whose broadcast you want to watch, you can find him in the search, after which by clicking on the main photo (avatar) we connect to the live broadcast (the owner will see the users who have joined).

While watching, you can leave comments in the comment box below, click likes, and if you do not keep up with the unfolding events on the air, you can rewind the chat.

How to watch from a computer

The web version of Instagram has limited functionality, so you will need to install additional tools to watch live on a computer. There will be no problems with this, the necessary software is available on official resources (in the application store, on the developer's website). You can provide conditions for the ability to watch live broadcasts on the Instagram social network from a computer using the following tools:

Android emulator.
Instagram application.
Browser extension.

Android emulator

We will emulate the Android environment on a computer in order to run a mobile application using the popular BlueStacks application. If you have an emulator, by launching it, you get the opportunity to work in exactly the same way as if you were using a smartphone, including downloading and using mobile software. First, the Android simulator needs to be installed into the system by downloading the distribution kit from the official website of the developer. The procedure is standard - download, select the installation path, accept the terms of the agreement, after which the installation is performed automatically. Next, do the following:

Launching BlueStacks. At the first start, you will have to wait a little while the program scans the system and applies the appropriate settings.
Upon completion of the setup process, you need to log in to your Google account.
After logging in, go to the "Application Center" tab, from where any Android applications will be available to us. In the search field on the right, we drive in the query Instagram.
Among the results, select the first official Instagram client in the list and install it by pressing the appropriate button, after installation the software will appear in the "My Applications" tab.
Click on the Instagram icon, after launching, enter your profile authorization data.
Now, you can watch users' live broadcasts on Instagram through a computer in the same way as on a smartphone. At the top of the interface, thumbnails of friends' profiles are available, and those who are broadcasting will be marked. Select the broadcast by clicking on the avatar.

Instagram application under Windows 10

For earlier versions of the Windows operating system, for example, if you have "Seven", this method will not work. We use it in the case when the computer is "Ten". To watch live on Instagram from a computer, do the following:

Installing an application from the Microsoft store.
Run the software, enter the profile authorization data (if missing, create it).
Stories will now be available at the top of the interface. If a user starts a broadcast, their profile thumbnail will be marked with a "Live" icon and you can join to watch the broadcast.

Browser extension

Another way to watch Instagram live is to install the special Chrome IG Story add-on for the Google Chrome browser, for which we follow these steps:

In the Chrome browser, go to the extension store.
In the left block in the store search bar, enter the query Chrome IG Story.
Select the desired add-on from the list of results and install it by pressing the corresponding button, confirming the action.
After installation, the extension will be available in the browser section (three dots in the upper right corner of the interface, select "Additional tools" - "Extensions"), where you can manage all installed add-ons (enable, disable, remove).
Click on the extension icon, as a result of which a window with user stories will open, to go to the broadcasts, click "Explore", live broadcasts will be available here. To join the viewing, simply click on the desired broadcast.

Broadcasts can be searched by name, tag or geolocation. In addition to accessing live broadcasts, you will also have the opportunity to download user stories to your computer.

How to watch live on Instagram anonymously

The user who created the broadcast can only see the number of viewers. You can see who exactly is present only by comments and likes, as well as when a person has just joined. If you do not want to show your presence, act as an observer, just watch the broadcast without commenting or pressing hearts. At the same time, many do not want to show even their appearance for a short time. To watch stories or live on Instagram anonymously, you can use one effective spy method that does not even require an Instagram profile registration. We only need the Telegram messenger installed on the device. It is interesting, including the fact that it makes it possible to use functional bots for various purposes. So, to view stories and live broadcasts incognito, we will use the IgSpyBot bot built into Telegram:

Open the messenger, go through the account authorization (create a profile if you don't have one) and go to "Contacts".
In the search bar, enter the address of the @igspybot bot, select it when it appears in the results and add it to contacts.
Launch the bot in the dialogue window with it.
We send a message to the bot, the content of which will be @nickname of the user whose broadcast, stories, etc. we will watch. We put the dog in front of the name, we send it.
In the menu that appears, select the user's broadcasts and the desired broadcast from those available in the list.
We are waiting for the content to load, after which we can view or download to the device.

Live broadcasts on the net are far from new, and watching broadcasts, as well as creating them, is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. After reading the detailed instructions on how to do this, even inexperienced users do not have questions.

How to start a live broadcast on Instagram from a computer

The web version of Instagram has the standard functionality for viewing and interacting with content: surfing the feed, viewing stories, the ability to like, comment or save a post. But, no matter how strange it may be, there is no way to view and start live broadcasts.

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How to watch Instagram live via computer

The web version of Instagram is not suitable for permanent use due to its reduced functionality. Live broadcasts have become more useful and popular, so it is important for someone to have access to watching live broadcasts on a computer. Below we have given 2 ways how this can be done.

The official Instagram app

The full app is only available on Windows 10. The process of watching live on Instagram from a computer is no different from that on a smartphone.

Using Android emulators.

These are programs that simulate a virtual mobile device on the Android platform. One of the popular and simple emulators is BlueStacks. After installing it, you will be able to download the Instagram application through the Play Market and install it on your computer.

You will have access to a full-fledged Instagram application on your computer, with which you can not only watch live broadcasts, but also publish content, surf the feed or go live yourself. A step-by-step guide on how to install BlueStacks and start live streaming from a computer will be covered in the next chapter.

How to start live on Instagram from a computer

, is identical to the standard functionality in the application on a smartphone.

If you want to use photos, videos or presentations live, you can do it in the application on the iPhone (this function is not available on Android). To do this, start the live broadcast and click on the rightmost icon at the bottom of the screen and select the desired file from the gallery.

After that, 2 windows will appear: one small with a speaker, the other full screen with material. By simply clicking on one of the windows, you can quickly switch between them.

If the live broadcast involves a presentation, prepare it in advance and save each slide separately. The presentation helps to visualize complex information and thus is better absorbed by the listeners. This format of live broadcasts is suitable for information business or educational accounts.

If you still need to live stream Instagram from your computer, download and install the BlueStacks emulator.

You now have an Android virtual mobile device. To access applications in the Play Market, you need to log in to Google.

Next, open the Play Market on the "My applications" tab, find the Instagram application in the search and install it.

The installed application will appear in the "My Applications" section, which is the desktop of the virtual device.

Launch and log in to the Instagram app. Now you can broadcast live on Instagram from your computer, as well as use all the features.

Conclusion

Like many restrictions on Instagram, the inability to view and start live streaming on Instagram can be bypassed using third-party programs.