Instagram is a popular photo-sharing app for the iPhone. But suppose you’re sitting at your Mac, longing to browse your Instagram photo feed, but your iPhone is far away, in the deepest recesses of your pants pocket? You no longer need to fear such potential tragedy, thanks to Mobelux’s launch of Carousel, a Mac-based Instagram client.
I made this little status bar app to have basic Instagram experience on my Mac. I know there was a couple of very similar apps presented before but I made it more robust and polished. Vu supports multiple accounts and can upload photos directly from built-in camera.
Carousel feels much like a polished Twitter client, though obviously it’s focused on photographs instead of tweets. The app presents a vertically scrolling roll of photographs; you can navigate between your Instagram feed, popular photos, and your own photo roll. You can click to see who’s liked a photo, along with any comments other Instagrammers have left on a photo.
The app sports four different themes, each of which offer a stylized take on the traditional Mac OS X window. You configure how frequently Carousel should check for new photos, and the app can optionally trigger Growl or increment a Dock badge when new photos arrive.
Double-clicking (or tapping spacebar) on a photo will offer a Quick Look of the full-size version of the image. When you see photos you like, you can drag them from Carousel onto your desktop.
Carousel is packed with single-key keyboard shortcuts (meaning, for example, you can press L to like a photo, or C to comment), and is thus equally friendly to keyboard junkies and mouse devotees alike.
Mobelux says that Carousel’s current $5 price tag is a “half-off introductory price.” A free 15-day trial of the app is available, too. Carousel requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later, along with an affection for digitally-aged photography.