The news: Instagram launched an app called Instants, aiming to take a page out of Snapchat’s and BeReal’s books and encourage frequent, spontaneous engagement.

• Instants—with the tagline “real life, real quick”—lets users take and share photos that can be viewed only once by friends and that disappear after 24 hours.
• No editing is allowed, though text can be added, and the app only accepts photos captured through the in-app camera.
• It can be accessed either as a standalone app or inside the Instagram app.

The company said it hopes to help users share more content in a “low-pressure” way, per TechCrunch.

Zooming out: Instagram tried this endeavor in late 2025 with Shots, a no-edit, in-the-moment image-sharing feature inside Instagram messages that similarly let friends view photos only once.

Shots’ reception and performance could be driving the attempt to spin off the concept into its own app and take market share from competitor Snap, which Meta tried to acquire in 2013. Instagram’s popular Stories feature, now a core part of the platform, is already a copycat Snapchat.

It could also help Meta boost time spent on its apps, which has plateaued and is set to decrease in 2027, even though its platforms dominate rivals in US users.

• We expect US time spent with Facebook and Instagram to decline 0.5% next year.
• 71% of US adults use Facebook and 50% use Instagram, per Pew Research, behind only YouTube at 84%.

The challenge: This concept failed for BeReal, which, after a surge of popularity in 2022, saw user numbers decline. A weak revenue model, declining network effect, and potential usage fatigue contributed to a buyout in 2024.

If Meta wants this to stick, it needs to encourage repeat engagement that doesn’t feel obligatory and avoid having Instants feel like a redundant offshoot of Stories, which currently dominates casual sharing on Instagram.

Instants should also introduce ads and branded content carefully—an endeavor that BeReal struggled with—to avoid undermining authenticity.

Implications for the industry: Instants could help carve out a new, low-stakes lane for sharing that drives more frequent, lightweight interactions.

However, a saturated social media market coupled with copious Meta platforms could splinter time spent. That could make it harder for users to know where to reach their friends and for brands to know where to find their premium audiences.