The change made by the “Meta” company, which owns the platform, included rearranging the main icons at the bottom of the screen and changing the locations of some basic buttons, such as the create a new post button and the private messages button, which made the users’ daily experience completely different from what they were accustomed to.

Confusing change

In the new design, the usual publish button has also disappeared from the bottom of the screen, to be replaced by the direct message icon (paper airplane), while the create a new post button (the + symbol inside a box) has been moved to the upper right corner of the application, according to the “Daily Mail” newspaper.

The positions of the search and Reels icons have also been changed, which has increased confusion for users who rely on muscle memory to browse.

The most notable change is the ability to move between different pages, such as messages and messagesRails Just by dragging your finger across the screen — which caused users to unintentionally jump between pages while browsing photos.

One user said in a post on the “X” platform:

“The new design bothers me more than I can explain. I try to scroll through the pictures in a specific post, but suddenly I find myself on the messages page!”

Another added:

“New menu layout in Instagram “Very annoying, no one asked for this change.”

Just test

For his part, Adam Mosseri, President of Instagram, explained that this update is being tested with a limited number of users before being rolled out globally, noting that the goal of the reorganization is to facilitate access to the most commonly used tools.

Mosseri said in a post on the Threads application:

“We’ve reorganized the interface based on what people use most on the app, especially Rails And private messages, and we made them closer to the thumb position for easier access.”

He also added that The platform She realizes that “changes like these take time to adapt to, so I made it available on a trial basis for those who want to try it early.”

But the responses were angry; One user wrote sarcastically:

“Just make a separate app for Reels and that’s it.”

Among the most common criticisms on the Internet, users described the update as an “illogical experiment” and “a reinvention of what did not need to be fixed.”

One of them said in a striking comment:

“All I want is a photo-sharing app, with a timeline that shows posts from only those I follow — like it was in the past.”

but Wave of anger This is not new, as campaigns have been launched before Social networking sites Under the slogan “Make Instagram Instagram Again.” Instagram to what it was), in protest of the concentration Application Excessive on video and marketing content.

Since its launch in 2010 as a simple photo-sharing application, Instagram has changed radically after an acquisition Mark Zuckerberg On it in 2012.

With the passage of more than a decade, it has become… The platform It is increasingly focusing on short video clips (Reels) in an attempt to compete with the Chinese “Tik Tok” application.

Other controversial features

This new update came in the wake of other changes that sparked controversy among users, including a new feature that allows friends to see the posts you liked in a dedicated tab, a step that some described as a “violation of privacy” and a “satanic feature” because it may reveal personal or embarrassing preferences.

Note that Meta continues to update Instagram At an accelerated pace, using artificial intelligence To analyze the behavior of users, especially teenagers, within what the company describes as attempts to make… Application Safer and more organized.

While Meta confirmed that these changes aim to improve the user experience and make… Application easily, many saw that the company was exaggerating the imitation of “Tik Tok” at the expense of its identity Instagram The original as a photo platform.