Instagram is fiddling again, will roll IGTV and videos into Instagram Video

Instagram Video Art
Instagram Video Art (Image credit: Instagram)

What you need to know

  • Instagram is making more changes to the way people watch videos in its apps..
  • A new Instagram Video button will be available in profiles.
  • A revised Instagram TV app will house IGTV and feed videos.

Facebook-owned Instagram continues to tweak the way its video offerings work, this time announcing that it is rolling IGTV and feed videos into one new format — Instagram Video. People will see a new button in profiles that will house all of this combined content, a spokesperson said via Twitter.

As part of the move, we will also see those two types of video, plus livestreams, made available in a "new and improved| Instagram TV app.

At the same time "new features to help make creating videos more seamless" were also announced. Trimming, filters, and people and location tagging are all coming to video.

With video now accounting for half of all time spent on Facebook, it's clear that both Instagram and its parent company will be working to solidify their places in that field. To that point, Instagram has previously noted that it is no longer just an app for sharing photos — a nod to a future where Instagram will be more of a TikTok competitor than it is today if Facebook has its way.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed the social network's eye towards video earlier this year.

Instagram was once the best iPhone app for people who wanted to share photos with their friends without using the Facebook app proper. Those days are long gone, with competitors like Glass trying to pick up where Instagram left off.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.