In May 2021, Instagram announced a new accessibility feature for videos on Instagram Reels and Stories to allow creators to place closed captions on their content. Since February 2017, up to ten pictures or videos can be included in a single post, with the content appearing as a swipeable carousel. The move was seen as a way to prevent users from deleting photos that don’t garner a desired number of «likes» or are deemed boring, but also as a way to limit the «emergent behavior» of deleting photos, which deprives the service of content. The feature was updated in April 2017 to let users organize saved posts into named collections. Users can upload photographs and short videos, follow other users’ feeds, and geotag images with the name of a location.
Microsoft launched a Hyperlapse app for Android and Windows in May 2015, but there has been no official Hyperlapse app from Instagram for either of these platforms to date. In March 2015, Instagram announced it would implement «carousel ads», allowing advertisers to display multiple images with options for linking to additional content. Users can apply for verification through Instagram’s settings, but the decision to grant verification ultimately rests with Instagram’s team.Meta (formerly Facebook) launched paid verification on Instagram in 2021. Meta stated that the test would initially reach a limited number of users, with plans for a global rollout depending on feedback. By doing so, users can easily access curated Stories from the past week that they might not have seen previously.
Features and tools
- They are distinguished from regular content by the «sponsored» tag under the account name.
- The post and petition gained mainstream attention after influencers Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian reposted the Instagram post; subsequently, the original post gained over 2 million likes on Instagram and over 275,000 signatures on Change.org.
- After the July 2016 announcement, the ability to ban specific words began rolling out early August to celebrities, followed by regular users in September.
- The Android version of Instagram was released in April 2012, followed by a feature-limited desktop interface in November 2012, a Fire OS app in June 2014, an app for Windows 10 in October 2016, and an app for iPadOS in September 2025.
- In May, Instagram updated its mobile website to allow users to upload photos, and to add a «lightweight» version of the Explore tab.
Ongoing research continues to explore how media content on the platform affects user engagement. Following behind, college graduates consist of 18% and users with a high school diploma or less make up 15%. Internet users who make less than $30,000 per year use Instagram, while 14% of those making $30,000 to $50,000 and 12% of users who make more than $50,000 per year do so.
Sharenting risks
The Wall Street Journal reported that some parents are concerned about the effects of short-form videos on their children, as there is no way to disable Instagram or set limits. Researchers from the Guizhou University of Finance and Economics and Western Michigan University found that short-form videos like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels may make it easier for young adults and children to develop addictive behavior because short-form videos provide «short bursts of thrills». The number of monthly users also increased from 1.5 billion in 2022 to 1.8 billion as of 2024.
Also in July 2019, Instagram announced that it would implement new features designed to reduce harassment and negative comments on the service. Mosseri stated that this was intended to have users «worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about.» It has been argued that low numbers of likes in relativity to others could contribute to a lower self-esteem in users. To comply with the GDPR regulations regarding data portability, Instagram introduced the ability for users to download an archive of their user data in April 2018.
In July, Instagram started allowing users to respond to Stories content by sending photos and videos, complete with Instagram effects such as filters, stickers, and hashtags. It also added messaging features, the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, and a Stories feature—similar to its main competitor, Snapchat, which allowed users to post their content to a sequential feed, with each post accessible to others for 24 hours. The changes included a feed more focused on Instagram’s content algorithms, full-screen photo and video posts, and changing the format of all of its videos to Reels. In July 2016, it announced that users would be able to turn off comments for their posts, as well as control the language used in comments by inputting words they consider offensive, which will ban applicable comments from showing up.
- In contrast, the level of agreement expressed in creating Instagram posts was lower, which demonstrates that Instagram’s emphasis on visual communication is widely accepted by young people in social communication.
- Also in February 2023, Zuckerberg announced that Meta would start selling blue «verified» badges on Instagram and Facebook.
- The app automatically begins playing videos as soon as it is launched, which CEO Kevin Systrom contrasted to video hosts where one must first locate a video.
- Mackson et al. 2019 found users were less lonely than non-users and Instagram membership predicts lower self-reported loneliness.
- On December 20, Instagram announced that the advertising section of the policy would be reverted to its original October 2010 version.
- Reels focuses on vertical videos that are less than 90 seconds of duration and various features for user interaction.
- The application was shut down and removed from app stores in March 2022, citing low usage and a shift to short-form video content.
According to Instagram, they pushed forward the launch of Co-Watching in order to meet the demand for virtually connecting with friends and family due to social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On October 1, 2018, it was announced that Adam Mosseri would be the new head of Instagram. On September 24, 2018, Krieger and Systrom announced in a statement they would be stepping down from Instagram. The app remains available on Windows 10 computers and tablets, also updated to a PWA in 2020. On April 30, 2019, the Windows 10 Mobile app was discontinued, though the mobile website remains available as a progressive web application (PWA) with limited functionality.
Instagram has been criticized in India for not taking steps to counter homophobic and transphobic contents. Instagram-based activism (as well as other social media) has been criticized and dismissed for being performative, reductionist, and overly focused on aesthetics. In June 2020, because of the Black Lives Matter movement, Instagram became more widely used as a social justice platform. Research shows Instagram browsing predicts social comparison, which generates FOMO, which can lead to depression. However, Brailovskaia & Margraf 2018 found a significant positive relationship between Instagram membership and extraversion, life satisfaction, and social support. Comments related to appearance on Instagram can lead to higher dissatisfaction with one’s body.
App Functionality
In November 2019, it was announced that Instagram would start to roll out a new feature to Brazil known as Instagram Reels. Albums were introduced in February 2017, which allow up to 10 minutes of video to be shared in one post. The addition was seen by some in the technology media as Facebook’s attempt at competing with the then-popular video-sharing application Vine.
In 2019, Instagram began to test the hiding of like counts for posts made by its users, with the feature later made available to everyone. Picardo et al. 2020 examined the relationship between self-harm posts and actual self-harm offline and found such content had negative emotional effects on some users. Also in 2020, Instagram rolled out a feature titled «suggested posts», which adds posts from accounts Instagram thinks a user would like to such user’s feed. Instagram said the algorithm was designed so that users would see more of the photos by users that they liked, but there was significant negative feedback, with many users asking their followers to turn on post notifications in order to make sure they see updates. In October 2015, it released Boomerang, a video app that combines photos into short, one-second videos that play back-and-forth in a loop. In July 2014, it released Bolt, a messaging app where users click on a friend’s profile photo to quickly send an image, with the content disappearing after being seen.
In August 2016, Instagram launched Instagram Stories, a feature that allows users to take photos, add effects and layers, and add them to their Instagram story. It was integrated with Instagram’s «Close friends» feature, so that users could send images, photos, and texts privately to others, and also had Instagram’s photo editing system embedded into the app. The new app added support for videos (viewing and creating posts or stories, and viewing live streams), album posts and direct messages. In September 2017, the company announced that public users would be able to limit who can comment on their content, such as only their followers or people they follow.
Then Instagram started rolling out a new feature with made Reels up to 90 seconds long beginning in June 2022. They are distinguished from regular content by the «sponsored» tag under the account name. Then in August of that year, Instagram introduced a reels button on the home page.
However, new incidents of illegal drug trade have occurred in the aftermath of the 2013 revelation, with Facebook, Inc., Instagram’s parent company, asking users who come across such content to report the material, at which time a «dedicated team» reviews the information. People can’t buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos. We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. In 2013, the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
According to the IFJ, Instagram is popular among Iranians because it is seen as an outlet for freedom and a «window to the world».Still, Iran has sentenced citizens to prison for posts made on their Instagram accounts. Like many social media sites, Instagram employs a combination of automated algorithms, user reports and human review to identify and remove illegal content such as child abuse and 0xbet encouragement of terrorism. In contrast, the level of agreement expressed in creating Instagram posts was lower, which demonstrates that Instagram’s emphasis on visual communication is widely accepted by young people in social communication. The motives for using Instagram among young people are mainly to look at posts, particularly for the sake of social interactions and recreation. Recently Instagram has come up with an option for users to apply for a verified account badge; however, this does not guarantee every user who applies will get the verified blue tick. From June 2012 to June 2013, Instagram approximately doubled their number of users.
On March 1, 2021, Instagram launched a new feature named Instagram Live Rooms, which lets four people go live together. In November, Instagram began to support Alt text to add descriptions of photos for the visually impaired. In September 2011, a new version of the app included new and live filters, instant tilt–shift, high-resolution photographs, optional borders, one-click rotation, and an updated icon. On September 3, 2025, Instagram launched a native iPadOS app, which before relied on the iOS app and did not utilize the larger screen size of tablets.