Continuing to increase its popularity by offering more innovations to its users, Instagram has added two new features to its “Stories” section. Recently, Instagram introduced features like disappearing videos and photos in the direct message section, the ability to “save” liked content, and “live streaming” in Stories. Now, it continues to enhance this area with new updates.
The heavy use of the Stories section has prompted Instagram to diversify it with new features. Two new additions to the array of updates—many of which resemble Snapchat’s features—are “Stickers” and “Hands-Free” video. With these new features, users can now add stickers to their Stories, offering a fresh sharing experience.
Using these features is incredibly simple. The sticker button is located in the top-right corner of the Stories section, next to the drawing tools. Among the available stickers, users can add weather updates, real-time timestamps, and location information. Additionally, there are special stickers for the holiday season. Users can move their chosen stickers around by dragging them to the desired position while keeping the filters intact.
The other feature allows for hands-free video recording. Previously, users had to hold down the record button to capture video for Stories. With the new feature, users simply need to tap the recording icon once to start and stop recording.
Users now also have more control over the text they add to photos and videos. They can write longer captions, adjust spacing as desired, and use a text editor to position their text appropriately.
With over 600 million monthly active users, Instagram has made headlines throughout the year with its numerous updates. This latest update aligns perfectly with the holiday season.
Finally, Instagram’s latest version, 10.3, will include the ability to save all Stories from the past 24 hours as a single video. The update will be available to iOS and Android users.