Instagram is taking another shot at casual, disappearing photo sharing with Instants, a new feature built into the main app and released separately as its own standalone app.
The idea is simple: snap a photo and send it to friends in real time, with the image disappearing once viewed. Friends can react or reply, but the interaction doesn’t go much further. Photos remain stored in a private archive for up to a year, and users can later turn them into a recap shared through Instagram Stories.
Instants is available inside Instagram through the DM inbox, where users can tap a photo stack icon in the bottom-right corner to open the feature. The camera experience is intentionally minimal, with no filters, editing tools, or camera roll uploads, though captions are supported. Photos can be shared with Close Friends or mutual followers, and an undo feature briefly allows users to retract a photo before it is viewed.
For received Instants, users can temporarily mute them using a gesture-based snooze feature by holding the inbox icon and swiping right, while swiping left restores them.
In addition to the feature inside Instagram, the company has been testing a standalone Instants app on iOS and Android in select countries. In a blog post, Instagram said users wanted “a quicker, easier way to get into the camera,” indirectly pointing to the growing complexity of the main app.
Both the Instants feature and its standalone app include Instagram’s existing safety and privacy protections, such as blocking and muting tools. Teen accounts under parental supervision automatically receive the same safeguards, including shared time limits, screenshot and screen-recording restrictions, and limited access between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Parents are also notified if their supervised teen downloads the Instants app.
Instagram has tried this kind of thing before. Stories became a huge hit after taking inspiration from Snapchat, and the company also experimented with Bolt back in 2014 before launching BeReal-style Candid Stories a few years ago. Now, Instants feels like another attempt to bring back the raw, casual sharing Instagram was originally known for.
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