Instagram is not a stranger in trying new things to make sure that they are always upto snuff. This new test proves that they are still looking for ways to make Instagram weirder than it is.
According to a tweet by a developer Alexander Puzzi, Instagram is working on Vertical Stories where you swipe up and down to browse Stories.
The developer told TechCrunch that he found the option while examining Instagram’s back end code. It is a prototype and it is at the beginning stages of development so it is unlikely to be ever released to the general public.
The current (and accepted) design for Stories is that they are in a carousel format which involves scrolling Stories horizontally. Scrolling Stories this way feels natural and that’s why it has become a popular feed format for social network. This new test feels like how TikTok would do it with their vertical endless scroll of the feed.
This new format test is a weird one by Instagram. Stories and the Feed have two distinct scroll styles and it makes it easy for people to identify them. It is also unclear how Instagram would implement this. Would they launch a completely new page for you to scroll Stories vertically like how they do with Instagram Reels? Will it be an option so that users can choose to view Stories horizontally or vertically? These are unanswered questions at the moment and will be asked when they decided to release it to the general public.
Instagram is no stranger to changing things around the app which destroys muscle memory. Recently, they decided to remove the like button and added the Shop button in its place.
