Instagram is testing a new dedicated app that’s focused around Snapchat-like photo sharing features. The app, called “Instants,” was launched in Italy and Spain yesterday, Business Insider reports, and allows users to send each other disappearing photos that are available for 24 hours and can be viewed only once during that window.
The app is currently available on both iOS and Android. Meta hasn’t announced if a desktop version will follow, or whether Instants will be launched in other regions, including the US. It resembles the “Shots” instant photo sharing feature that is already baked into Instagram messages (and was later rebranded to Instants), and an Instagram spokesperson told Business Insider that it’s designed to “give people low-pressure ways to connect with friends.”
Users can capture photos and videos using the in-app camera and send them to mutual Instagram followers and close friends, but editing capabilities are intentionally limited. Text can be added to the images and videos, but Instants doesn’t allow users to otherwise modify the media they’re sending. It aims to encourage Instagram users to be more authentic — something alluded to by the app’s “real life, real quick” tagline, and seemingly builds on goals that Instagram chief Adam Mosseri shared in December.
There are some obvious similarities to other instant photo sharing apps like Snapchat and BeReal, making this Meta’s latest of several attempts to mimic those services. Instants remains tied to the user’s Instagram account, though Meta says that users can choose whether to share and view the disappearing photos via the new standalone app or on the original Instagram platform.
Instagram told Business Insider that it’s “exploring multiple versions of Instants to see what people like.” The decision to spin existing features out into a dedicated app is interesting given BeReal and SnapChat aren’t the household names they once were, but Meta must feel that there’s an opportunity here to deal a further blow to its shambling competitors.