Meta's Instagram keeps doing more and more experiments to push its Reels short video format to the masses. The latest one might take a toll on your muscle memory as the social media giant is testing a new user interface with rearranged tabs.
Instagram's new opt-in UI, available to some users, puts the "Create" button in the top-left corner of the screen. The navigation menu at the bottom now starts with the Home tab on the extreme left, followed by the Reels tab, and DMs as the third tab, replacing the Create button.
Moreover, the updated interface has moved the Search tab to the fourth position, while the profile icon remains on the extreme right.
"We're organizing the app around what people use the app for most, which has increasingly been reels and DMs", Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said in a Threads post announcing the new experiment. "I know these types of changes can take time to get used to, so we're giving people the option to try this early before we roll it out."
Another update in the new design is that you can swipe between all the tabs. Previously, you could swipe from the right edge of the screen to open DMs and swipe from the left edge to create new content.
The Meta-owned platform recently crossed 3 billion monthly active users. Instagram CEO Adam said that Reels, DMs, and recommendations have been the biggest crowd-pullers in recent years. That's why Instagram is busy baking new features around Reels and DMs.
While you can't disable recommendations altogether, Instagram is working on a new feature that lets you take some control over your Instagram recommendations algorithm. The company pushed its Reels-first interface on the recently launched iPad version, where you directly land on Reels instead of flicking through a scroll feed of mixed content.
The social media giant is testing a similar Reels-first UI for mobile users in India and South Korea, but with some differences. It shows Reels on the homepage below Stories; however, the bottom menu has the DMs tab in the second phase and the Following tab in the third, allowing you to see content from the accounts you follow.
Instagram's love for short-form videos isn't just limited to humans. The new Vibes app is specifically meant to feed you with short videos generated with the help of AI. Time and again, Instagram keeps testing different iterations of its features to gauge public opinion. There is no word on when the new Instagram tabs will make it to all users.
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