The Complete Timeline Of Instagram Updates That Have Changed The Way We Gram

Updated September 2022

Instagram has always been evolving: with so many Instagram updates, it’s hard to even think of it as one consistent app. Indeed, it’s changed so much over the years that it would be more apt to talk about the many “Instagrams” that have been released since 2010.

The brainchild of Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram was something of an overnight success. Within just two months of its launch, it garnered over a million users. At just under the two-year mark, there were already 50 million Instagrammers.

Today, Instagram has cemented itself as one of the core social media platforms alongside Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. With the release of Instagram Reels just a few months ago, Instagram has proven that it’s here to stay. 

Here, we’re going to take you on a journey through Instagram’s history. We’ll cover its not-so-humble beginnings all the way to its entrance into the mainstream and everything in between. By the end, you’ll have a new appreciation for the Gram as well as a feel for the newest Instagram features and an idea of where it may be going next. 

Latest Instagram Updates in 2022

August 2022

Instagram NFT Feature Expands To 100 Countries

Instagram declared on August 2022 that the platform will begin supporting its NFT feature in 100 nations including the US, Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas. By linking their digital wallets to the app, Instagram users will be able to share NFTs on the Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow blockchains. There are no fees for sharing NFTs on Instagram. It’s totally free.

July 2022

New Dual Features And New Instagram Reels Templates

Instagram is taking reels very seriously and is encouraging everyone to create reels with the new Dual Features and New Instagram Reels Templates announced in July. These pre-built templates allow users to create Reels so fast. Even if some may not know how Reels work, simply clicking on “Use template” makes it extremely easy to create a Reel in no time. With Instagram’s new Dual feature, users may now simultaneously record content and responses. With the Dual feature in the Instagram camera, you can share another perspective to your Reels using the front and rear cameras on your phone.

New Instagram Maps Update 

Also on July, Instagram released an update on the Map functionality. This new Instagram Maps update now includes an option to search for a local business by category in a specific area. You may look up nearby businesses on the new Instagram search map and learn more about them. When searching for a specific type of business or curious about what’s close by, this can be helpful.

June 2022

New Ways To Confirm Your Age

On June 2022, Instagram launched new and better ways to confirm a user’s age on social media. These options include uploading your ID, social vouching, and face-based age prediction. 

Face-based age prediction, on the other hand, is made possible with Instagram’s partnership with Yoti. This option will ask you to send a short video selfie. Then, Instagram sends this image or video over to Yoti where they use that selfie to predict your age. After predicting your age, Yoti sends back the photo to Instagram and then deletes it to protect the privacy of users. 

On a side note, it was on this month of June 2022 when power Insta users Kylie Jenner (360 million followers) and her sisters, Kim Kardashian (326 million followers) and Kourtney Kardashian (192 million followers), became vocal about supporting the “Make Instagram Instagram Again” movement.

They became advocates of the movement a day after Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, formally announced that by next year more than 30% of users’ Instagram feeds would consist of AI-recommended content from people they don’t follow. To this, the Kardashians strongly reacted saying that Instagram should stop trying to be like TikTok. 

Auto-generated Captions For Reels

Another feature is auto-generated captions for reels. Once a Reel is uploaded, auto-generated captions will be turned on automatically. This feature makes Instagram a lot more accessible for members of the deaf, and for people who prefer to watch videos without sound. 

May 2022

Updated Instagram Branding And Logo

Anyone who has updated Instagram in May will notice a facelift in Instagram’s branding and logo. The platform’s new brand identity includes the new Instagram Sans font, a lighter color palate, and bolder creator-focused imagery. 

NFTS On Instagram

Also in May, Instagram launched NFTS on Instagram. This new functionality is meant primarily for NFT creators and collectors to share their own NFTs on Instagram. This update is huge in terms of creator economy development. In other words, this feature makes it easier for creators to earn from their work. A simple way to share NFTs is through messages, the Feed, or Stories. 

April 2022

 New Hashtag Experience

The platform’s new hashtag experience is a great way for users to support, fundraise, and spread the word about important causes. Instagram determines which of these hashtags are relevant and actually represent a cause by working with pertinent organizations. Each hashtag also has a destination, such as a page specifically for it where people may start a campaign or share something with their network. So when you search for hashtags like #climatechange, you can arrive at their dedicated pages.

Product Tagging On Instagram Expands To Everyone

On April, product tagging on Instagram expanded to everyone.  Initially, it was only accessible to creators and brands, but now, everyone can use this to tag products in their feed. When people tap on the product tag, they will see detailed information about the product and can go as far as purchasing it directly from the app or through the brand product’s detail page. 

March 2022

Enhanced Tags

In March, Instagram introduced the Enhanced Tags feature that gives credit to creators. This feature allows users to tag all contributors and collaborators in a post so you’re able to give credit to everyone involved in the content creation process, including those who work behind the scenes (photographers, makeup artists, designers, etc). Doing this makes it easier for these people to be recognized and find new collaborations and opportunities.

February 2022

3D Avatars In US, Canada, Mexico

In February, Instagram rolled out 3D avatars to users in the US, Canada, and Mexico. 3D avatars are a new visual representation of a user’s more dynamic identity compared to a static profile on a social media site. The avatars are intended to be created on Instagram, Meta, or Messenger. However, it is still capable of taking them across the Metaverse along with all your digital belongings, such as clothes, collectibles, bags, and more.

January 2022

Instagram Subscriptions

Instagram opened in 2022  with a huge break for creators and influencers with Instagram Subscriptions. This feature allows creators “to monetize and become closer to their followers through exclusive experiences,” explains Adam Mosseri, the Head of Instagram. With subscriptions, creators can be sure their revenue will be solely derived from their content, not their reach. There  are three types of subscriptions: 

• Subscriber Lives, where creators would go live only to their subscribers
• Subscriber Stories, where Stories are marked with a purple ring to let subscribers know that it was published specifically and only for them
• Subscriber Badges, where subscribers get a purple badge so they get differentiated in comments and DMs. 

Monthly subscriptions will allow followers to access exclusive content published by their favorite creators.

Chronological Order Of Instagram Feed

Also, in January, Instagram tested feed changes and offered a more chronological order of Instagram Feed with three new options: Home, Favorites, and Following. Users can customize the order in which posts appear on their feed.

Home is Instagram’s algorithmic feed, but it has been announced that there may be a few changes like increasing the number of recommended posts. Following is the new Instagram chronological feed that everyone is excited about. Choosing this allows users to see content only from profiles they’re following, in chronological order, of course. The Favorites feed, is where users can manually add their favorite people and see content only from them. 

Instagram Updates 2021

December 2021

Customized Link Stickers On Instagram Stories

In December, Instagram introduced Link Stickers that allow you to add links to Instagram stories. This option is quite straightforward and shows a sticker that, when clicked, exposes an external link. As added functionality, new options to customize the link label text are added.  When you click the new choice, a link that says “Customize sticker text” appears, allowing you to input your own call-to-action text.

New Safety Features

On December 20, 2021, Instagram released some new safety features and capabilities to make the platform even safer for young people. These new Instagram features to adopt a stricter stance toward what is advised for teens on Instagram, such as preventing people from tagging or mentioning teens who do not follow them. The other three safety features are:

Take A Break

Instagram introduced “Take A Break” to help users make informed choices about how they spend their time. Instagram will ask users to take a break from the app after scrolling for a certain time and advise them to schedule future reminders to take additional breaks. We’ll also provide them with expert-endorsed advice on how to take stock and reset.

Your Activity

Your activity is a special section from which you can control all of your Instagram activities. The ability to bulk erase any outdated content and regulate what is made available to the public on user profiles is the most important capability.

Parental Controls

This is Instagram’s initial set of parental control options. Some of the new Instagram features will be time-limit settings for parents, the ability to notify parents when a teen reports someone to continue the conversation about that scenario, and similar contexts.

November 2021

Instagram Badges For Live Videos

Badges are a way for creators to get paid extra by their fans.  Viewers can click an icon during a live Instagram video and purchase badges to support the producers’ efforts. The badges are shown as a heart (or hearts) next to the user name of the person who bought them. Multiple badges are available for purchase by viewers in increments of $0.99, $1.99, and $4.99.

Viewers can buy as many badges as they like and up to $250 per live video. 

Add Sticker to create a public thread on Instagram Stories

The Add Yours Sticker rollout allows creators to post a story and add this sticker that invites other users to post images on their Story.  Once they have viewed the Story, your followers can interact with this sticker by tapping the Add yours sticker icon. This will trigger a popup inviting them to select a photo and add it to the Story.

October 2021

Share A Link On Instagram Stories

Perhaps one of the biggest announcements for this month is the Instagram Stories Link sticker. This feature is a game-changer. It allows users to directly link to their product and services page and sell more. Creators will also be able to earn from their website traffic. 

Collab Option In Feed Posts And Reels

With the “Collab” option, Instagram users can collaborate on feed posts and reels. Other Instagram users can be invited to collaborate with content creators to produce feed posts and reels. The posts will be visible in both authors’ Instagram feeds and share view count, like count, and comment thread.

Upload Photos And Videos On A Desktop

One great rollout this month is the option to share photos and videos via desktop. For now, creators can’t share reels or stories through their desktops just yet. 

September 2021

Map Search

Users can now locate the locations of various businesses within the Instagram app thanks to the new map search tool. With just a click on the map icon, users may now view directions to nearby establishments like restaurants, bars, cafeterias, entertainment venues, and more. After clicking on a specific business, users can also get access to more details like the cost of its goods and services, and any public posts that have been tagged with its location.

Swipe-Up Link On Instagram Stories Dropped

This month, Insta decided to replace the swipe option with stickers. Users who previously used this option to bring users to their website will still be able to do the same with stickers. These stickers have different styles and sizes and can be placed anywhere on the Story. People can also send reactions to stories with links stickers like they do on any other story, which wasn’t possible with the swipe-up link. 

August 2021

Limits: Hide Abusive Messages

Limits provide protection for its users against abusive DMs and comments. This new feature allows users to limit or hide messages and comments coming from other users who aren’t on their followers’ list or have become a follower in the past. 

Audio Tab For Discovering Reels Of A Specific Song

Like other music applications, Instagram will provide users with a list of tracks with the song name they are looking for as soon as they swipe and search for a song. When users select music, Instagram displays a 30-second sequence and reels with that tune. They have the option of saving the tracks for later use or using the “use audio” option to immediately create a reel.

Ads In Shop Tab

Instagram is testing this new format and feature that allows brands and companies to display ads in the shopping tab. Ads can be displaced as a carousel or a single image and will be shoppable. Clicking on the ads redirects to the product page, where more details on the product users clicked on are available. 

July 2021

Text Translation On Instagram Stories

To make Instagram more accessible, they launched an update that translates audio into text in Instagram Stories. Instagram will notify you to “See translation” whenever you view a story that has a text overlay in a language other than the one that is configured in your app. As of today, this feature supports 90 languages. 

Expands Tracking Data In Analytics

Instagram business profiles will definitely benefit from Instagram’s new feature that expands the data tracking period from 30 to 60 days. Users can now analyze data from the last two months without third-party apps that provide options for expanding the tracking period. On Insights, Instagram lets you choose a custom date range for tracking your metrics. 

Discover Black-owned Businesses On Instagram

With this rollout, it becomes easier to discover black-owned businesses in the US. Businesses can attach a label, “black-owned,”  to their Instagram profile to facilitate the search. 

June 2021

Instagram Algorithm Officially Explained

In June, Instagram launched a campaign that explains how the Instagram algorithm precisely works. Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, gave direct information to businesses and creators to help them understand how the platform ranks content for Stories, Feed, Reels, and IGTV.

May 2021

Reels Insights

This month’s rollout helps creators better understand and evaluate their performance on Instagram. Reels Insights allows creators and business owners to track the effectiveness of their content by looking at likes, comments, saves, shares, plays, and accounts reached. This way, users get more sense of how Reels shape their overall account performance.

April 2021

Stories Caption Sticker

Caption stickers will change the way stories and reels are viewed. This feature basically turns verbal speech into written text. It’s perfect for those who prefer to turn off the sound while watching video content, and especially for people with hearing difficulties. 

Turn Off Video And Audio On Instagram Live

People can get uncomfortable when broadcasting themselves with sound on or visuals. Instagram knows this well which is why their new update allows users to mute their microphones and turn off their videos during Instagram Live. This gives users more flexibility and lessens any pressure during a Live.

March 2021

Live Rooms – Hangout With Up To 3 People

This most-anticipated update, Live Rooms, encourage live communication on Instagram. Now that users are able to hang out with up to three people, this feature can create more creative opportunities such as starting a talk show, engaging with other artists, hanging out with more friends at once, and even hosting tutorial sessions and follower Q&As. Brands can even earn more when viewers buy a badge during a live chat. 

February 2021

Cross-app Messaging – Instagram And Facebook

Beginning today, Instagram users from one app can easily message you or find you on another app. But, cross-app messaging goes beyond messaging and searching. It also allows users to reshare posts or have free video chats across platforms. The functionality also applies to your Active Status. Once enabled, both platforms will show you’re online. 

Recently Deleted Feature

To restore deleted content, Instagram added the Recently Deleted feature. This provides protection from hackers that would delete content when they get access to an account. Instagram will ask you to confirm that you are the rightful account holder before allowing you to permanently remove or restore anything from Recently Deleted.

January 2021

Professional Dashboard For Tracking Performance

Instagram is off to a good start with the Professional Dashboard, a rollout that’s available to all Creator and Business accounts. This feature helps creators and brands discover insights and trends based on their account’s performance. It also gives access to new tools to run and build the business more efficiently, as well as check monetization status and eligibility. In addition, educational resources like tips, tricks, inspiration, and guidance are readily accessible for optimal growth.

Instagram Updates 2020

October 2020

In this month’s new Instagram update, Instagram added automatic closed captioning to IGTV, which expanded its reach to non-hearing audiences — and those who can’t turn the volume up because they’re in the middle of a meeting or a conference! 

Instagram also expanded the maximum length of Reels to 30-seconds, which gives content creators more flexibility with their Reels. 

August 2020

As TikTok continued its ascent into the mainstream, Instagram launched Reels as a direct competitor. Reels takes the same addicting formula of loopable videos set to music and brings it to Instagram. In short, it’s TikTok on Instagram. This is one of the newest Instagram features.

June 2020

In June, Instagram added a feature that allowed users to pin specific comments on their posts. When a user pins a comment, it will show up at the top of the comment section. 

May 2020

May saw the addition of the Instagram Guides feature, which allowed users to curate a selection of posts and add commentary in between them. When a user posts a guide, it shows up on a “Guides” tab on their profile.

Instagram also released the Shops feature, which lets businesses build out fully-featured ecommerce stores natively on the app.

Additionally, it rolled out monetization for IGTV and added Giphy to help users express themselves more fully through gifs. 

April 2020

Instagram continued to expand its business offerings in April by including gift cards, food orders, and donation tools for small businesses in their feature set. 

Plus, Instagram also added Instagram Direct to the desktop version of the app, which allowed desktop users to send direct messages. 

March 2020

When COVID officially became a pandemic, Instagram rolled out the “Stay Home” and “Thank Heroes” stickers to encourage quarantine and show support to essential and healthcare workers. 

February 2020

In February 2020, Instagram added new “Following” categories to help users get a better idea of which accounts they’re interacting with the most and which accounts they don’t follow back. Essentially, this feature helps users sort through who they’re engaging with most and least frequently. In a practical sense, it can help users decide which accounts to follow or unfollow.

January 2020

January saw another addition to Instagram’s business features. With this update, businesses got an extra inbox tab and could switch between primary and general tabs. This led to more organized communication for businesses on Instagram. 

Instagram Updates 2019

October 2019

2019 was another slow update year. In October, Instagram removed the “following” tab, which had previously allowed Instagrammers to see what people they were following were liking and engaging with. While this change was bemoaned by some, it did increase privacy on the app. 

In the same month, Instagram added new font options for stories and merged Facebook messenger and Instagram Direct. 

Instagram Updates 2018

June 2018

June 2018’s new Instagram update saw the addition of IGTV to the platform. This new feature bumped up Instagram’s video sharing capabilities by allowing users to upload videos longer than one minute. IGTV videos can be viewed either in the standalone IGTV app or from within the normal Instagram app. 

IGTV stands out compared to other video apps because it’s built around the mobile experience. Videos are always vertical, so they fill up the entirety of a user’s screen without having to tilt the screen horizontally. This makes for a more natural mobile viewing experience. 

May 2018

The Instagram mute feature, which was released in May 2018, allowed users to get some much-needed space from accounts that they didn’t want to unfollow but also didn’t want to see any content from.

By muting a user, Instagrammers can stop seeing their posts in their feeds. The muted account is not notified, and they’re not unfollowed either. 

Instagram Updates 2017

February 2017

2017 was a slow year as far as updates are concerned. The biggest update, carousels, came in February and allowed users to add up to 10 photos to a single post. Once the post is published, viewers can flip through the photos using the arrows on the left or right of the photo. 

Carousels are still used very frequently as they offer an easy way to group several related photographs together into one post. 

Instagram Updates 2016

November 2016

Instagram Live was Instagram’s foray into the world of streaming. With Instagram Live, users could now livestream events, music, or just their everyday lives to their followers. This beckoned in a new way to interact with accounts and a new era of live Instagram content. 

September 2016

While most updates added new features, September 2016’s removed one. After this new Instagram update, Instagram removed photo maps from the mobile app. Photo maps had allowed users to browse through their photos based on location by looking at a map.

August 2016

Inspired by Snapchat Stories, Instagram launched Instagram Stories in August 2016. Instagram Stories are pictures or videos that are only viewable for 24 hours (unless they’re added to highlights, which wasn’t yet released). Stories are incredibly popular and are a mainstay of the platform to this day. 

Additionally, Instagram also launched image zoom in the same month. This feature allowed users to get a closer look at their favorite posts. 

July 2016

While June’s update helped facilitate conversation, in July, Instagram let creators moderate their comment sections by either filtering out specific comments or turning comments off entirely. 

June 2016

In June 2016, Instagram helped bridge language barriers by releasing an instant translation feature. Now, posts could be instantly translated from one language to another, making it easier than ever to connect with international accounts. 

May 2016

May 2016’s update added new businesses tools that helped brands get a better sense of how their content was performing. Additions included analytics that displayed audience demographics, post impressions, and reach. 

March 2016

Instagram’s March 2016 was another game changer for Instagram. Prior to this update, content in the Instagram feed was displayed based on chronological order. 

However, with this new release, feeds would start to be displayed based on a new Instagram algorithm that weighed engagement as the most important factor. Now, Instagrammers would see content from the accounts that they engaged with the most, not content from the people who posted most recently. 

February 2016

With increasing numbers of businesses and marketing agencies on Instagram, there was a growing need for the ability to quickly switch between profiles. 

Up to this point, switching between a business and a personal Instagram account required logging out of one and logging into the other. However, with this new Instagram update, users could now stay logged into both accounts and switch between them with a few taps. 

Instagram Updates 2015

November 2015

In November 2015, Instagram killed off support for feed-reading applications. These third-party apps let users scroll through their Instagram feeds without using Instagram itself, essentially giving users different UIs and ways to organize their feeds. 

October 2015

In October 2015, Instagram added Boomerangs, which are short video loops of no more than a few seconds. They get their namesake from the fact that they sort of “boomerang” around and create a repetitive motion. 

For example, a Boomerang video might capture someone jumping up in the air. Then, the Boomerang will reverse that motion so that it shows them returning to the ground, then jumping up again, etc. This action will then continue to loop until the viewer navigates away.

In some ways, Boomerangs were a very early precursor to TikTok videos and Instagram Reels, which are also looped videos, but on a longer timescale. 

September 2015

The next new Instagram update came three months later and expanded Instagram’s advertising feature set. With the September 2015 update, all businesses were allowed to run 30-second video ads on the platform. This was a particularly welcome addition as video ads stand out more than static ads on the Instagram newsfeed. 

June 2015

In June 2015, 10 months after its last update, Instagram unveiled its new advertising capabilities. Now, businesses could run ads that prompt users to install apps, sign up for email newsletters, and link to websites. 

Linking had always been a bit of a challenge on Instagram as users have always been limited to one link in their bio (tools like url.bio can help expand this). With ads, businesses now had new ways to get Instagrammers on their websites.

Additionally, the June 2015 update also allowed users to upload both vertical and horizontal pictures.

Instagram Updates 2014

August 2014

August 2014’s new Instagram update expanded further into the business space. In this version, Instagram included business tools for analytics and insights so that businesses could get a deeper look into how their content was performing. 

With this update, Instagram solidified itself as a platform that was ripe with opportunity for businesses. However, it would be almost a year before Instagram started hosting ads.

June 2014

In June 2014, Instagram expanded its editing features to give users deeper control over the content they were posting. These expanded capabilities included controls for brightness, contrast, highlights, and shadows.

Instagram Updates 2013

December 2013

December’s update expanded Instagram’s networking capabilities with the addition of direct messaging through Instagram Direct. Now lovingly referred to as DMs, direct messages have been vital to facilitating communication between users on the app. 

Plus, can you imagine a world where the phrase “slide into your DMs” had never been uttered? Talk about an alternate reality. 

November 2013

November 2013 marked another turning point in Instagram’s history. With the addition of Sponsored Posts, Instagram fashioned itself into a new advertising platform. The new Instagram update also boosted the entire influencer marketing industry, which has proved vital to so many businesses’ successes. 

July 2013

As Instagram grew in popularity, there was a rising need to share photos outside of the platform itself. To meet this demand, Instagram added embed functionality, which allows users to embed their photos and videos on other websites, forums, etc. 

May 2013

Six months later, Instagram unveiled new photo tagging capabilities along with the “Photos of You” tab. The new Instagram update allowed users to tag their friends in their photos. Plus, visitors to a profile could view not only the photos that the user posted but all the photos they were tagged in as well by tapping on the new “Photos of You” tab. 

June 2013

For the first few years, Instagram was a picture-only platform. However, this changed in June 2013, when Instagram added new video-sharing functionality to the app.

With this addition, users could expand their posts to include short videos. This opened up new creative and expressive possibilities and has remained a staple of the app. 

Instagram Updates 2012

December 2012

December 2012’s Instagram update was a bit more devious in nature. Instead of a feature update, Instagram changed its terms of service and allowed itself to sell any user’s posted content to third-parties without their consent and without notification. 

It was at this point that Instagram started to get some backlash for its privacy policy. Understandably, this update was not taken well by most. 

August 2012

In August 2012, Instagram released the Photo Maps feature, which let users browse posts by scrolling through a map. This helped users find geographically relevant content. The feature was eventually discontinued in September 2016. 

April 2012

In some ways, the April 2012 Instagram update was the most significant of all: it made its way onto Android, which opened it up to a whole new market of users. Perhaps it is no coincidence that it hit 50 million users within the same month, further catapulting it into the big leagues of social media. 

Instagram Updates 2010

December 2010

By December 12, just two months after launch, Instagram hit one million users. While the features themselves stayed the same, this was a major landmark, and it helped cement Instagram as an app that people needed to pay attention to. 

October 2010

Instagram launched on October 6, 2010. Its growth was astounding: within just one week, it had amassed 100,000 users and became the number one photography app on the Apple app store. This is made even more impressive by the fact that it took only a year of planning and 8 weeks to build the app in the first place — talk about a big payoff!

At launch, Instagram’s feature set was minimal: you could post photos, follow users, and like and comment on posts. The many features we now enjoy were a far cry away. 

Instagram Updates 2011

September 2011

Just shy of a year after launch, Instagram released Version 2.0. This release made the Instagram experience speedier and more user-friendly. Version 2.0 made all camera effects accessible from within the camera view and added:

• New and live filters
• Instant tilt-shift
• High-resolution photographs
• Optional borders
• One-click rotation
• An updated icon

January 2011

You may be surprised to learn that hashtags, which are now an integral part of Instagram, didn’t make their way onto the platform until January of the following year. While the three-month gap isn’t very significant in the grand scheme of things, it’s strange to imagine a time when Instagram posts weren’t filled with hashtags. 

Now, hashtags are commonly used to get organic attention for a post. When a hashtag is included in a post, it shows up on that hashtag’s feed, which makes it easy to find for users subscribed to or searching for that hashtag. 

Key Takeaways

Instagram has come a long way since its beginnings in 2010. Over the years, it has changed from a pure social media platform into an important advertising and marketing channel that serves large and small businesses alike.

Instagram continues to evolve, and we can only imagine what the platform has in store for the future. If the past is any indication, it will continue to expand the newest Instagram features, like Reels. It will also increase its offerings for businesses, add more sales features, and delve further into the world of video. We can’t wait to see what comes next.