When you take a photo with an instant film camera, you watch the photo slowly appear in your hands. Instagram is testing a new feature that feels like the exact opposite of that – instead of physical photos that slowly appear, Instants is all about digital photos that slowly disappear.
Instagram’s Instants, which is currently only available in some regions, allows users to take and share unedited photos that can only be viewed once and disappear after 24 hours. While the app sounds a bit like a Snapchat-Instagram hybrid, the goal of the app seems to be a low-pressure, unedited way to share photos.
Instagram feels increasingly curated – users are often sharing only the best moments, and even then those photos often feel highly edited. Instants doesn’t allow for photo edits at all, which may seem strange for a social platform that’s known for its camera filters, but Instagram says the test is about creating a “low pressure” way to share with friends.
Instants doesn’t even allow uploads from the Camera Roll – the only photos that can be shared are taken from the apps camera, and there’s no option to edit them. The photos can be shared to the Instants app or using Instagram itself, and the social media giant says that it is testing several variants on the feature.
As a feature still in testing, the app is currently only available in Italy and Spain, but for Instagram users worldwide, the test is an interesting glimpse into some of the ideas that Instagram is working on behind-the-scenes.
Instagram’s preference for square photos has always made me think of the network as the modern equivalent of handing a friend a Polaroid photo. The disappearing photos in Instants feel like the opposite of that, the photos are digital instead of physical, and the photos disappear instead of reappearing.
As a test, only time will tell if the app becomes widely available – or becomes integrated into Instagram itself. But an app just for unedited photos feels like an echo of the low-tech trend that has brought back early 2000s point-and-shoots.
Frankly, I’d download it in a heartbeat if the inability to edit photos also means that there’s no AI slop. But, with the inability to upload photos taken from another camera, it doesn’t seem like Instants will be a photo-focused alternative to the increasingly Reels-based Instagram for serious photographers sharing their work.
The app is available on the App Store and Google Play Store, but is currently limited to users in certain regions.
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