April 28, 2026, 7:12 am | Read time: 2 minutes
Instagram has been evolving its platform for years, often taking cues from other services. Parent company Meta has now announced another update that clearly draws on existing concepts. This time, the focus is on a standalone app called “Instants.” With this, the company once again adopts ideas from competitors to keep its platform current and explore new usage forms.
Instagram’s history goes back about 16 years. Originally launched as a pure photo platform, the service quickly gained significance. Just two years after its launch, Meta, then known as Facebook, acquired the app and continuously expanded it. New features often emerged with an eye on successful competing offerings. For instance, short vertical videos were introduced as Reels, reminiscent of TikTok. Stories, which disappear after 24 hours, were also adopted from Snapchat and are now a staple of the platform.
New App Being Tested in Two Countries
Meta confirmed to “TechCrunch” that “Instants” is currently being tested in Italy and Spain. It is a standalone app focused on sharing spontaneous content. Users can take photos and videos directly and share them with friends. The content can only be viewed once and then disappears. At the latest, it is completely deleted after 24 hours.
A similar concept was already tried within the Instagram app. Now Meta is taking it a step further by testing the feature as a separate application. The long-term plan is to offer the feature both within Instagram itself and in “Instants.” According to the report, the goal is to create an alternative to the often heavily edited content on Instagram.
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Focus on Unfiltered Content
Instants deliberately focuses on simple and unaltered content. Photos and videos must be taken directly through the app’s camera. Already saved files cannot be used. Edits or filters are also not intended. This is to keep the content as authentic as possible.
With this approach, Meta ties back to the early days of Instagram, when the focus was more on spontaneous snapshots. The new app is currently available for iOS and Android in the test countries. It is not yet known if and when “Instants” will be released worldwide. It also remains unclear how successful the concept will be. Similar offerings have already faced challenges. Other services with comparable features have been experiencing declining user numbers for some time.