Instagram launches Instants, a Snapchat-style app for disappearing photos

Meta takes another swing at Snapchat

Meta this week quietly released a new standalone app called Instants in Italy and Spain, marking its latest attempt to compete with Snapchat on the territory of ephemeral photo sharing. The app opens directly to the camera, prohibits editing or uploading from the camera roll, and sends photos that disappear after a single viewing while expiring within 24 hours.

A blend of familiar ideas

According to reports, Instants functions as a mash-up of Snapchat, BeReal, and Locket, designed for what Meta describes as low-pressure sharing. Users can capture photos or short videos and add text, but cannot otherwise alter the content before sending it to mutual followers or Close Friends. The App Store listing carries the tagline Real life, real quick, framing the app as a way to connect with your favourite people over life's little moments.

A Meta spokesperson said the company is experimenting with various iterations of Instants to gauge user preferences and will take community feedback into account. No timeline has been shared for a potential launch in the United States or other markets.

From internal prototype to public test

Instants has been in development for months. Reports in February revealed Meta was building an internal prototype of a standalone disappearing-photos app, a claim confirmed by the company at the time. Mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi, known for reverse-engineering Instagram features, had spotted early references to the project.

The concept evolved from an earlier Instagram feature called Shots, which tested disappearing photo-sharing within direct messages in select countries. That functionality has now been spun off into the standalone Instants app.

Meta's pattern of cloning rivals

The launch continues Meta's long history of replicating features pioneered by competitors. Instagram adopted Stories from Snapchat in 2016 and later introduced Reels to challenge TikTok. Meta has also previously tried standalone companion apps, including a 2019 version of Threads designed for Close Friends messaging, which drew Snapchat comparisons before being discontinued.

Instants is now available on both Android and iOS in its test markets, but Meta has given no indication of broader expansion plans. Whether this latest attempt breaks the pattern of short-lived companion apps remains to be seen.