What you need to know
- Instagram is reportedly launching another test overseas that brings a “Your Feed” tab to the UI.
- This feed is all about endlessly scrolling Reels, as users can pin and customize which feeds to swipe through at a moment’s notice.
- Instagram first started down this Reels-first approach in October, stating that the short-form content and DMs drive the most growth.
Rumors are surfacing on social media that claim Instagram is working on upgrading more than its Home tab with a new customizable feed.
User Howfxr on X (thanks to ParthChandel50) highlights Instagram’s supposed development of a “Your Feed” feature for Instagram (via 9to5Google). The post alleges that Instagram could shift its bottom UI slightly, switching the Reels and DM tabs around. The main Reels icon will also change to an icon that (kind of) resembles two phones. This is “Your Feed,” which may greet users with “Following,” “Friends,” “Latest,” and “Saved.”
This is an endless-scrolling feature, where users can hop into Reels and stay for as long as they desire. However, the tipster likens what Instagram is allegedly testing to the pinned feeds that X (formerly Twitter) rolled out ages ago. “Your Feed” is customizable, with the X post stating users could find “Favorite list posts,” “Suggested” (based on activity), and a “post-only feed” from followed accounts (no Reels) in conjunction with those mentioned previously.
The rumor suggests that this customization will be straightforward, as users can edit “Your Feed,” swapping the order in which the feeds appear at the top, as well as options to add others or remove current ones.
The post states that this test is supposedly ongoing for a limited number of users in India.
Instagram’s going all in on Reels
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In October, Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, introduced users to the beginning of a test in which the app would display Reels right off the bat. Similar to what’s been alleged for “Your Feed,” Mosseri said that the Reels-first test was starting in India, and that users would see its short-form content first thing on the Home tab. Mosseri added that Reels and DMs drive “the most growth” on the platform. This test in October was to see how well users accepted the changes.
This was the second most interesting test for Reels last year, as the first was for password-locked content. Secret codes and hints were the name of the game for this test, as content creators could hide their coolest reveals behind them.
Android Central’s Take
I once asked, “Remember when Instagram was all about great photos?” That was a few years back when the app tried a change to its home feed that users didn’t like. One of those changes involved looping in more videos. Maybe times have changed? Perhaps people are opening up to short-form content more often, as we’ve gotten more Reels, there’s YouTube Shorts, and, of course, there’s TikTok. It’s good that Instagram isn’t getting away from its simple posts, but it’s clearly striving to shove as many Reels at us as humanly (digitally?) possible. Good or bad? I don’t really know yet.
