Instagram Tests Reels-first Experience in India

Meta has today announced that the company is testing a new “Reels-first” experience in the Instagram app in India.

To make it even easier to access these most-loved parts of Instagram, we’re testing a new Reels-first experience for a limited group of users. This experience is similar to our recent launch the Reels-first experience on iPad:

• When you open Instagram, you’ll land directly in Reels. Stories remain at the top, making it easy to connect with friends.
• DMs are now just one swipe away in the navigation bar for quick access to conversations from anywhere in the app.
• There will also be a new “Following” tab, which gives you multiple ways to see the latest and greatest from the accounts you follow:
• All: Recommended posts and Reels from accounts you follow.
• Friends: Recommended posts and Reels from accounts you follow who also follow you back.
• Latest: Chronological posts and Reels from accounts you follow, with the newest content first.

Very interesting, and I fully expected Instagram to dive head first into Reels considering how much they’ve blown up in the past couple of years. But more than the Reels feed taking centre-stage in the app, I’m very interested in experiencing the new “Following” tab that gives me a way to browse my “Friends” and “Latest” feeds separately.

I don’t have this new experience just yet, but I’m looking forward to it.