MENLO PARK, Calif. — Meta is testing Instagram Instants, a standalone app for disappearing photos and short videos, in Spain and Italy as the company looks to revive casual photo sharing among close friends, April 26, 2026. The test gives Instagram another shot at private, low-pressure sharing as users increasingly split their attention among Snapchat-style messaging, BeReal-style authenticity and Instagram’s own Stories.
Instagram Instants brings disappearing photos back to the center
The app lets users capture photos or short videos with an in-app camera, add text and send them to mutual followers or Close Friends, according to TechCrunch’s report on the Instants test. Photos can be viewed once and remain available for 24 hours.
Meta confirmed the rollout in Spain and Italy, while saying it is testing multiple versions of the product and listening to user feedback, according to Business Insider’s coverage of the launch. The app is available on iOS and Android, but Meta has not announced a U.S. launch.
The move is risky because Instagram already has Stories, Direct Messages and Close Friends, all of which cover parts of the same behavior. But a standalone app could make the experience feel lighter and more intentional than posting inside Instagram’s crowded main app.
Why Instagram Instants feels familiar
Instagram has used this playbook before. In 2016, the company launched Stories, a format that made photos and videos disappear after 24 hours, as TechCrunch reported when Instagram Stories debuted. That feature later became one of Instagram’s most important products.
The Instants test also echoes Instagram’s earlier push into disappearing Direct photos and videos, which helped normalize temporary, private sharing inside the app. The difference now is that Meta is separating the behavior into its own app instead of burying it inside Instagram.
That strategy may help Meta target users who want less polished posting, but it could also create friction. The Verge described Instants as another Snapchat-like experiment and noted that it remains tied to Instagram accounts, according to its report on the standalone app.
A test shaped by Snapchat, BeReal and Instagram’s own past
Instants arrives after years of social apps chasing more spontaneous sharing. BeReal pushed unfiltered daily photo prompts into the mainstream before its momentum cooled and it was acquired by Voodoo in 2024, according to Financial Times reporting on the BeReal deal.
Meta has the scale to test aggressively. Instagram reached 3 billion monthly active users in 2025, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, according to Reuters coverage of Instagram’s user milestone. Meta also reported 3.58 billion daily active people across its family of apps in December 2025, according to Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings release.
Still, scale does not guarantee that users want another app. Instagram Instants will need to prove it can feel simpler than Stories, more private than the feed and more durable than past authenticity trends. For now, Spain and Italy are serving as Meta’s test markets for whether disappearing photos can become fresh again.
