Meta has launched a new app. It’s called Instagram Instants. It lets you send disappearing photos that vanish after 24 hours and can only be viewed once. Sound familiar? Yes, Snapchat has been doing this since roughly the dawn of time. BeReal tried. Even Instagram’s own “Shots” feature had a go before it was rebranded and relaunched as – you guessed it – Instants.
And yet, here we are. Writing about it. Because if there is a new platform feature doing the rounds, you need to know whether it is worth your time or just noise. So let’s talk.
What Instagram Instants Actually Does
It is genuinely quite simple. You open the app, you take a photo using the in-app camera (no uploading from your camera roll – that would be too easy and also, apparently, too curated), and you send it to your mutual followers or Close Friends list. They can view it once. It disappears. You keep your copy. Theirs vanishes.
No filters. No editing. No cropping. Text only, if you must add anything at all.
The tagline is “real life, real quick.” Snapchat’s lawyers are presumably thrilled.
It is currently being tested in Italy and Spain, with iOS and Android versions available. No desktop version. No confirmation it will roll out globally. Meta has stated they are “exploring multiple versions of Instants to see what people like” – which is corporate for “we have no idea if this will stick, but BeReal’s decline has left a gap we intend to fill.”
Why Is Instagram Doing This Right Now?
Two reasons, and neither of them is altruistic.
The first is engagement speed. Instagram’s algorithm has been tracking “instant” signals for years – how many people engage within the first 10 minutes, whether someone watches past the first three seconds of a video. Features like Instants are designed to generate that immediate, real-time reaction. It fits perfectly with where the platform is headed.
The second is competition. BeReal is not the force it once was. Snapchat still has 16 million-plus subscribers paying for premium features, which tells Meta there is money and appetite in the disappearing-content space. TikTok is reportedly testing its own quick photo-sharing tool called PhotoSwap. The race is on, and Instagram does not like being third.
There is also a third reason, if we are being completely honest. Instants requires you to agree to terms and conditions that allow Meta to use the data it collects to target you with ads. So: engagement data, behavioural signals, and a fresh advertising funnel. Nice little package.
Should Your Business Be On This?
Hold up. Instants is squarely aimed at everyday users right now – the people who find Instagram too polished and curated and want something more spontaneous. That is not most business accounts.
But.
If you are a creator that thrives on personality over polish – behind-the-scenes content, location drops, candid moments, the kind of thing that makes your followers feel like insiders rather than spectators – there is a case for experimenting here. The 24-hour window and one-view rule create a scarcity that Stories alone cannot quite replicate. Done well, it rewards your most engaged followers with something that feels genuinely exclusive.
The key word is “experimenting.” Nobody should be pivoting their content strategy around a feature that is still being tested in two European countries.
What We’d Recommend
Wait for the wider rollout. Watch what early adopters do with it. And in the meantime, focus on the 24 things that still matter more than any new feature: your strategy, your audience, your consistency, and your content quality.
New platforms and features launch every few months. Most of them either fade out or get absorbed into something else. Instagram itself was once a Snapchat clone. Threads was going to kill Twitter. Remember when everyone was on Clubhouse?
The creators that win are not the ones who sprint to every shiny new thing. They are the ones who know their audience well enough to judge when something is worth their time – and when it is not.
Not sure which platforms and tools actually deserve space in your marketing strategy? That is quite literally what we do.
