Instagram’s New Instants App Is a Snapchat Clone for Thirst Traps
Meta launched a new app on Wednesday, called Instants, that integrates with existing Instagram accounts and allows users to send unedited, disappearing photos. Instants leans into the popularity of Instagram’s Stories feature and Close Friends lists, where users can selectively share images with a smaller audience. Instants is available as a standalone app on iOS and Android in select countries, and it’s accessible through Instagram’s direct messaging tab. The core of Instants, from its name to the bare-bones layout, is designed to evoke a sense of ephemerality. Yes, it’s a conceptual clone of Snapchat, with images that disappear after viewing, which can also be unsent before the person on the other end views them. (Instagram’s Stories feature, launched a decade ago, was also influenced by Snapchat.) Unlike Snapchat, Instants is much more focused on capturing raw moments, like the once-viral BeReal app, and doesn’t allow any filters or retouching. That’s striking for the company that helped make sepia-toned filters, like Valencia, household names, and is hell-bent on adding generative AI to every other corner of …
