Instagram’s New Snapchat Clone Makes It Too Easy to Send Disappearing Images to All Your Friends
Instagram has a habit of stealing features from other apps and, in doing so, making them mainstream. When Snapchat launched Stories, Instagram did the same, and arguably better. When TikTok took over the world, Instagram launched “Reels” and managed to get millions (if not billions) of users addicted to short-form videos. Now, Instagram is targeting Snapchat again, taking inspiration from the app’s most iconic feature: disappearing photos.
Instagram snapshots are a little dangerous
Credit: Instagram
On Wednesday, Instagram announced Instants, which the company calls “a new way to share the moment.” Snapshots are photos that you can share with your friends and that disappear once opened. (Sounds familiar.) Although your friends can’t save them, they can react and reply to your snaps, both of which are sent to your DMs. However, not every snapshot you share disappears from your account: Instagram says your captures stay in an archive for up to a year, which you can reshare in your Stories if you want.
Of course, none of this is revolutionary. Anyone who has used Snapchat knows the process here. What East However, what’s unique about Instagram’s approach is who you send snaps to. Rather than choosing individual contacts and groups to share these fleeting images with, Instagram offers two options: Close Friends (the list of Instagram users you’ve designated as such) and Mutual Friends (the followers you follow). The latter is simply called “Friends” in the app and is the first choice that Instagram presents when it invites you to send a snap, which means that it is path too easy to accidentally send a snapshot to literally everyone you follow who also follows you.
If you’re a public and outgoing Instagram user, this doesn’t seem like a bad thing. But I guess the rest of us don’t necessarily want to blast each of our mutuals with a casual Snap-type photo. (I know you don’t.) So if you’re thinking of trying Snapshots, make sure you know where your photos are going before you hit Send.
How to Try Snapshots on Instagram
Snapshots live in your DMs, but in a tricky place. You’ll find it in the lower right corner, in a tab that pops out of the screen. When you tap on it, you will be able to see all the snapshots that have been sent to you. If you don’t have one, you will simply launch the Instants camera interface. The most important element here is at the bottom: by default, you will see “Friends”, which means that your Instant will be sent to all your mutuals. If you want to switch to Close Friends, tap “Friends,” then tap “Close Friends.” Instagram gives you the option to quickly edit your Close Friends list here if you want to make any changes, including clearing the entire list, but note that any changes you make here are immediate. I accidentally cleared my entire Close Friends list because I thought I was deselecting the suggested contacts.
What do you think of it so far?
Taking the photo itself is quite simple, but dangerous: you can choose whether to use the front or rear camera, or whether or not to use the flash. If you want to add a caption, tap the viewfinder to bring up the keyboard. (You add captions before taking the photo here.) You’ll also find the archives at the top right if you want to look at previous snapshots you’ve taken. However, once you’ve captured the photo, you only have a few seconds to press “Cancel” before it’s sent to your selected friends list, so be careful. If you prefer a dedicated Instants experience, Instagram has actually created an app for this feature for iOS and Android.
How to ignore snapshots
You can’t get rid of Instagram snaps, but you can “snooze” them. Back in the DM window, you can swipe across the moments UI to push it to the side of the screen. It will disappear, but you can restore it at any time by swiping left on that edge of the screen.
