Instagram is a free social networking service built around sharing photos and videos. It launched in October 2010 on iOS first, and became available on Android in April 2012. Facebook purchased the service in April 2012 and has owned it since.

Like most social media apps, Instagram allows you to follow users that you’re interested in. This creates a feed on the homepage showing recent posts from everyone you follow. You can Like posts and comment on them.

In addition to posting normal photos and videos, which stay on your page permanently, Instagram also supports Stories. If you’ve used Snapchat, you’ll be familiar with these. Stories allow you to post one or more photos and video clips in a series. Anyone can view these for 24 hours, after which they expire.

Aside from this, Instagram also supports direct messaging so you can chat with friends in private. You can also explore profiles to see what else you might have an interest in. We’ll show you how all this works below.