With over 250 million daily active users, Instagram continues to enhance its features to improve user experiences and remain the world’s most popular photo and video-sharing platform.
Instagram has been expanding its Stories section—adapted from its competitor Snapchat—to encourage greater user engagement. Initially focused on photo sharing, the Stories section has since incorporated videos, effects, live streams, and location tags. Instagram’s continuous strategy to promote video sharing has allowed it to surpass Snapchat in user engagement.
Launched in August 2016, Instagram Stories has seen rapid growth: reaching 100 million users by October, 150 million by January, 200 million by April, and now 250 million daily active users. In comparison, Instagram reports 700 million monthly active users, while Snapchat reports 166 million monthly active users.
As competition among social platforms intensifies, Instagram has introduced a new feature to Stories: “Live Replay.” This update allows users to save and replay their live streams for up to 24 hours in the Stories section.
What Does This Feature Offer Users?
Previously, live streams could only be viewed in real-time by followers who were online during the broadcast. With the new Replay feature, live streams can now be saved and shared in Stories, making them available for 24 hours—just like photos and videos.
Followers who miss your live broadcast can now catch up by viewing it in your Stories. To watch a replay, followers can simply tap the “Play” button in your Stories within 24 hours of the broadcast.
How to Use the Live Replay Feature:
- Once your live broadcast ends, tap the “Share” button at the bottom of the screen to save it to your Stories.
- Your live video will then appear in the Stories section for 24 hours.
- Viewers can watch the video along with any likes and comments from the live session.
- Swipe right to fast-forward 15 seconds, or swipe left to rewind by 15 seconds.
Instagram anticipates that this update will encourage users to host more live streams, offering more opportunities to engage with their audience.