Oliver Haslam on March 3, 2017, 7:46 am

How To Use Snapchat Spectacles With Instagram

Snapchat Spectacles are undoubtedly one of the more interesting hardware releases of 2016. Spectacles with cameras built in, the eyewear gives prolific Snapchatters a way to quickly and easily share what they are seeing.

The theory is sound, and those who live on Snapchat are clamoring to get their very own Spectacles with which to wow the world. The same can be said for those who prefer to use Instagram as their video and photo sharing platform of choice, but with Spectacles being a Snapchat invention, that’s a bit of a problem. As it turns out though, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

As it turns out, it is actually possible to take videos shot with Spectacles and then share the results via Instagram. You can’t do so directly or as seamlessly as you can with Snapchat, of course, but there is a workaround of sorts that allows for the exporting of videos shot using Spectacles. This all involves heavy use of the Camera Roll on iPhone and then uploading them to Instagram. It’s far from ideal, but it works.

Here’s what you need to do.

Step 1: Press the physical button on your Spectacles to capture any video as you would normally do when using Snapchat to share.

Step 2: Once done, launch the Snapchat app on the connected iPhone.

Step 3: Switch to Camera view.

Step 4: Tap on the small circular icon below the main shutter button to switch to the videos that have been captured using the connected Spectacles.

Step 5: At this point, the Memories section should open up. Make sure the Specs tab is selected.

Step 6: Tap on the ‘select’ icon in the top-right corner, and then select the video you wish to export.

Step 7: Tap on the share icon, and then Save Video to save it to Camera Roll. You can share it to Instagram directly from the iOS Share Sheet here as well but in that case you won’t be able to apply any Instagram filters to your share.

Step 8: Launch Instagram and share the exported video shot from the iOS Camera Roll.

And that is pretty much it. One thing to note here is that since Spectacles capture circular videos, and the Snapchat app uses some software tricks to make it go full screen, complete with the ability to view full frame when rotating the smartphone, the same would not be possible when sharing and viewing the videos shot using Spectacles on Instagram. We told you it was a workaround!