Instagram is Testing a Reels-first Experience in its Mobile App in India

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.