Instagram is testing a new dedicated app that focuses on Snapchat-like photo-sharing features. The app, called “Instants,” was launched yesterday in Italy and Spain. Business Insider Information reports and allows users to send each other disappearing photos that are available for 24 hours and can be viewed only once during that period.
Currently, the app is available on both iOS and Android. Meta hasn’t announced whether a desktop version will follow or if Instants will launch in other regions, including the US. It resembles the “Shots” instant photo sharing feature that’s already included in Instagram Messages (and was later renamed Instants), and an Instagram spokesperson said Business Insider Information which is designed to “give people pressure-free ways to connect with friends.”
Users can capture photos and videos using the app’s camera and send them to mutual Instagram followers and close friends, but editing capabilities are intentionally limited. Text can be added to images and videos, but Instants does not allow users to modify the media they send. It aims to encourage Instagram users to be more authentic, something the app’s tagline “real life, real fast” alludes to, and is apparently based on goals that Instagram boss Adam Mosseri shared in December.
There are some obvious similarities to other instant photo sharing apps like Snapchat and BeReal, making this Meta the latest of several attempts to imitate those services. Instants remains linked to the user’s Instagram account, although Meta says users can choose whether to share and view disappearing photos through the new standalone app or on the original Instagram platform.
Instagram said Business Insider Information which is about “exploring multiple versions of Instants to see what people like.” The decision to turn existing features into a dedicated app is interesting given that BeReal and SnapChat aren’t the household names they once were, but Meta must feel there’s an opportunity here to deal a new blow to its faltering competitors.
