Still in testing phase, the Stories tab in Instagram will follow you down your main feed.
Instagram has pushed out a new update to its mobile app that makes the Stories tab persistent. This means that the tab you see on top when you open the app—where your friends’ Stories are shown as big round icons—will always remain on the screen, even when you scroll down to view the rest of your main feed. It’s a new feature that’s currently in testing phase.
This new change in the Instagram app’s UI comes only days after the Facebook-owned company decided to launch IGTV, a new standalone app for watching long-form vertical videos, and a new feature that lets you add background music to your Instagram Stories. The latter is limited to some countries only, for the moment.
When asked for a comment by The Verge, an Instagram spokesperson said of the new persistent Stories tab through an email response, “We’re always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you.”
As of now, Instagram does not offer an option to disable the persistent Stories tab. Since it’s in testing phase, it’s hard to say whether the feature will stay or go. According to Instagram, over 400 million users post on Instagram Stories every day. This, presumably, is reason enough to push the feature all the more. Both Instagram and the new IGTV app are available on Android and iOS platforms.
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Vignesh Giridharan
Progressively identifies more with the term ‘legacy device’ as time marches on. View Full Profile
