Instagram accidentally rolls out major change in app, pulls it back

Instagram feed went sideways for some of its users briefly late in the night yesterday. It was reported that Instagram was testing horizontal scrolling, and huge shift from the way feed works currently. Several users witnessed a timeline that moved left to right, where posts could be tapped through as they can be in Instagram Stories. When the new timeline appeared, Instagram informed its users via a message that said, "Introducing a new way to move through posts." It also asked the users to tap through to see their feed. However, it seems the experiment was short-lived and things are now back to normal.

Leakster Ishan Agarwal was the first to noticed the change.

Breaking News! Opened my Instagram just to find out that they have rolled out the rumoured Swipe/Tap Feed! What do you do feel about this? It has too much blank space which is not needed and tapping is not as good as scrolling (swiping is even slower). @JoshConstine @TaylorLorenz pic.twitter.com/fIwdeFbkoC

- Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) December 27, 2018

The horizontal feed focussed on one photo (and the ads) at a time. The comments appeared with a slight upward flick of the finger. The feed movement was slower because you could only go through one single post at a time. The Stories bar, however, was easy to access as it was always present and doesn't require you to scroll all the way to the top.

Meanwhile, only the main feed was affected by the new horizontal design shift. The profile page looked similar to what it is now .

Talking about the new layout, Instagram head Adam Mosseri commented on Twitter that the horizontal feed was meant to be "a small test" that "went broader than we anticipated."

Sorry about that, this was supposed to be a very small test but we went broader than we anticipated.

- Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) December 27, 2018

Instagram, on the other hand, said via its official Twitter handle that the change in layout was a bug.

Due to a bug, some users saw a change to the way their feed appears today. We quickly fixed the issue and feed is back to normal. We apologize for any confusion.

- Instagram (@instagram) December 27, 2018

Instagram is now back to its vertical feed scroll look. However, it was an interesting experiment that could, in future, make a permanent appearance on the photo sharing platform. It had its positives and a few tweaks here and there could make it a much better alternative to the current Instagram layout.

Edited By: Udit Verma

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