Instagram is reportedly contemplating spinning its Reels function right into a standalone short-form video app to benefit from TikTok’s unsure future within the US. Instagram head Adam Mosseri was overheard discussing the plans with workers this week based on an anonymous source cited by The Information.
The Reels app is reportedly a part of a Meta initiative code-named Undertaking Ray which goals to assist Instagram higher compete towards TikTok. Plans embody bettering how Instagram content material is advisable and bringing extra three-minute-long Reels movies to customers within the US.
TikTok has round 170 million US customers and nonetheless faces a ban after being given a 75-day extension by President Donald Trump in January. Throughout TikTok’s short-term elimination from app shops final month, Instagram launched Edits — a blatant riff on the CapCut video modifying app owned by TikTok’s mother or father firm ByteDance — and allegedly tried to lure creators to its personal platform with money bonuses.
It’s unclear if Reels would nonetheless be built-in into Instagram if it does get its personal separate app, however a devoted short-form video platform can be nearer to the curated scrolling expertise supplied by TikTok. This might be Meta’s second try and launch a direct TikTok competitor after releasing the standalone video-sharing app Lasso in 2018 — and later shutting the app down in 2020 to deal with Reels.