Instagram has launched a new feature, named Instants, and users already upset by it.
The feature is aimed at allowing users “to share in the moment – with spontaneous, unfiltered photos”. It allows people to take a photo that will be immediately posted to their followers, though that functionality has frustrated and perhaps embarrassed some users.
Instagram stressed that the tool is made to be “ephemeral”. They will appear alongside direct messages in the app, and can only be opened once.
Parent company Meta also launched a companion app with the same name, that aims to make it quicker and easier to use the new function.
Instagram’s Instants are found in the in the Instagram inbox, in the bottom right corner, and users may receive notifications when one of their friends shares one. It may not appear at first open, and the app might require updating and closing before they will show up.
Once they do, users can click the button to add a new Instant. It will then show the option to add a caption as well as a view of the photo screen. Clicking the white button takes a photo as usual – but, crucially, it immediately sends that out to users.
There is an “undo” button in the app that will appear automatically. That will take the image back before it is shared with friends.
But many users across social media immediately found that they were not aware the pictures would go straight out, and did not undo them, meaning that their followers were shown selfies that they might have taken only to test out the feature.
Instagram stressed that users will not be able to screenshot or screen record the Instants. That was part of a series of privacy protections which also include the integration of the app’s parental supervision features, so that they will count towards time limits and viewing them will be restricted for young people at night.
Although the Instants will disappear for followers after being seen once, like Snapchat, they will be shared in a private archive from which they can then be posted to stories as a “recap”.
Some also complained about the notifications that are pushed to users when one of their friends shares one of the pictures. The app send a message to followers telling them that their friend has shared an Instant, and allowing them to click through to see it, presumably intended to boost usage of the feature.
Many users also pointed out that the feature borrows from the central functionality of Snapchat. Instagram has added a number of features that first appeared in that rival app, including its stories, which are now one of the central parts of the platform.
