With more than 2 billion monthly active users globally, Instagram is no doubt one of the most popular social media apps.
But the Meta-owned platform has made yet another major change to its user experience – and people aren’t happy.
Instagram has completely reorganised the menu bar, which lets users navigate different parts of the app such as the main feed, direct messages and Reels.
The redesign means users no longer tap the bottom of the screen if they want to post a new photo.
What’s more, swiping the screen now switches between the main feed, direct messages and Reels – whether users meant to or not.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said the change is being tested with some users before any wider rollout, but many of those affected flocked to social media to complain.
On X (Twitter), one person said: ‘The new Instagram layout is annoying me more than I can explain. Try to swipe to see photos on a post and end up on a completely different page.’
Another said: ‘Instagram’s new menu layout is very infuriating.’
Instagram has made a subtle change that has left users furious – as one vents it’s ‘annoying me more than I can explain’
‘Annoying me more than I can explain’: Many of those affected flocked to social media to complain
‘Instagram’s new menu layout is very infuriating: ‘Swiping the screen is switching between the main feed, direct messages and Reels – whether users meant to or not
As any Instagram user will know, a menu bar running along the bottom has five different icons, all corresponding to different parts of the app.
Usually, the icons are (from left to right) home, search, new post, Reels and profile.
However, with the new change, the positions of search and Reels have been swapped around.
More dramatically, the new post icon has been replaced with the icon for direct messages (DMs) – the paper aeroplane symbol.
In turn, the new post icon – which is a plus symbol inside a square – has been relocated to the top-right corner of the app.
An additional change means users can now swipe across their screen to switch between the different aspects of the app, like tabs on a computer.
But because the swipe motion is also used to browse carousels of photos, this has proved something of a problem for many.
People are accidentally switching between the main feed, direct messages and Reels.
The new layout: The ‘new post’ plus icon has been replaced with the icon for direct messages (DMs) – the paper airplane symbol
The old layout: Note the arrangement of app icons (from left to right: home, search, new post, Reels and my profile)
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said the new app layout has been reorganised ‘around what people use the app for most’, which has increasingly been Reels and DMs.
Essentially, the Reels and DMs are now positioned nearer the user’s thumb, making them easier and quicker to tap.
‘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,’ Mosseri said in a Threads post.
In response, someone said: ‘Erm, literally no one wants this, while another suggested: ‘Just make a separate app for reels at this point.’
A third said: ‘What I think is that I want the app for sharing images, a chronological feed that shows me all the accounts I follow and working hashtags – yknow all the things Instagram USED TO DO.’
There’s no doubt Instagram has changed dramatically in the last decade, largely due to the threat posted by rival TikTok.
Instagram launched in 2010 as a straightforward photo-sharing app before it was bought out by Mark Zuckerberg’s company in 2012.
Fast-forward more than a decade and Instagram now has an overwhelming focus on short video clips.
Instagram launched in 2010 as a straightforward photo-sharing app before it was bought out by Mark Zuckerberg’s company in 2012
Mosseri has admitted this in the past, simply because video is what Instagram users engage with more on the app.
In 2022, following calls to ‘make Instagram Instagram again’, Mosseri said: ‘I want to be clear, we’re going to continue to support photos.
‘That said, I need to be honest, I do believe more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time.’
Mosseri has been posting his updates about Instagram on Threads – Meta’s text-based conversation app built to rival Elon Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter).
Mosseri does still have an X account, but his last tweet was in July 2023 – the same month Threads was launched.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .