Instagram To Follow Facebook Footsteps, Testing Standalone App Called “Direct”

A mobile, desktop, and Internet-based photo-sharing app Instagram is will soon launch a standalone app. Instagram is testing the standalone app for private messages named Direct, it is the very first step towards removing the messaging option from the photo-sharing app.

• What is Direct? How will it work?

Now you might be thinking that why you should have to keep two Instagram app on your smartphone. The standalone app called Direct opens to the camera just like Snapchat, it will be available on iOs and Android both, launching today in six countries. Those six countries are Uruguay, Turkey, Portugal, Italy, Israel, and Chile.

Now, let’s talk about how it works and the functions it contains. After installing the Direct app, your inbox will be disappeared from your Instagram account and you will be able to access the inbox in the messaging app. If the messaging app called Direct be introduced on a global level it will give a parent company to Facebook which a third most popular messaging tool stands behind Messenger and WhatsApp. However, currently has no plan for doing so.

The test is first noticed by The Verge, Instagram product manager Hemal Shah told The Verge, “We want Instagram to be a place for all of your moments, and private sharing with close friends is an important part of that.” Shah added, “Direct has grown within Instagram over the past four years, but we can make it even better if it stands on its own. We can push the boundaries to create the fastest and most creative space for private sharing when Direct is a camera-first, standalone app.”

Facebook had already undertaken a transition just like Direct before, Facebook removed the messaging inside the app which ultimately forces users to download Facebook Messenger. At the time, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “On mobile, each app can only focus on doing one thing well.” He said, “Asking folks to install another app is a short term painful thing, but if we wanted to focus on serving this [use case] well, we had to build a dedicated and focused experience.”