Instagram Launches New Snapchat-Inspired Feature
▼ Summary
– Instagram is testing a new standalone app called “Instants” in Italy and Spain, focused on sending disappearing photos that last 24 hours and can be viewed only once.
– The app is available on iOS and Android, with no announcement yet about a desktop version or expansion to other regions, including the US.
– Instants allows users to send photos and videos to mutual followers and close friends using an in-app camera, but editing is limited to adding text.
– The app aims to encourage authenticity, with the tagline “real life, real quick,” and builds on goals shared by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri.
– Instants resembles Snapchat and BeReal, and is Meta’s latest attempt to mimic those services, though it remains tied to users’ Instagram accounts.
Instagram is quietly testing a new standalone app that borrows heavily from the disappearing photo format popularized by Snapchat. Dubbed Instants, the app launched yesterday in Italy and Spain, according to Business Insider, and centers on sending photos that vanish after 24 hours , with the added twist that each image can be viewed only once during that period.
Available now on both iOS and Android, Instants has no confirmed timeline for a desktop version or a rollout to other markets, including the United States. The app builds on a feature originally called Shots within Instagram’s messaging system, later rebranded to Instants. An Instagram spokesperson told Business Insider that the goal is to “give people low-pressure ways to connect with friends,” leaning into a more casual, less curated social experience.
Within Instants, users can capture photos or videos using the in-app camera and send them to mutual Instagram followers or close friends. Editing options are deliberately sparse: you can add text to images and video, but that’s it. No filters, no stickers, no retouching. The app’s tagline , “real life, real quick” , reinforces the push toward authenticity, a theme Instagram chief Adam Mosseri touched on back in December.
The similarities to Snapchat and BeReal are impossible to ignore. Instants is tied directly to a user’s Instagram account, though Meta says people can choose whether to share and view these ephemeral posts through the new app or within the main Instagram platform. This marks Meta’s latest attempt to replicate the success of instant photo-sharing rivals, even as BeReal and Snapchat have lost some of their cultural momentum.
Instagram told Business Insider it is “exploring multiple versions of Instants to see what people like.” Spinning an existing feature into its own dedicated app is a notable strategy, especially given that its competitors are no longer the dominant forces they once were. Still, Meta clearly sees an opening to deliver another blow to its fading rivals.
(Source: The Verge)
