Instagram wants to be like TikTok. Stories may be scrolled vertically

Instagram is developing a new feature that will make the application similar to the TikTok platform – vertical stories. Today, users view stories by tapping sideways or swiping horizontally. Instagram took over this feature from Snapchat, but times have changed since then.

Vertical stories were noticed by Twitter user Alessandro Paluzzi, who discovered the feature in the Instagram source code.

#Instagram is working on Vertical Stories 👀
Swipe up and down to browse stories. pic.twitter.com/LDJje8l137

– Alessandro Paluzzi (@ alex193a) February 2, 2021

A screenshot he shared on Twitter shows a simple user interface with text that says, “Now you can scroll through stories by scrolling up and down.” Below this text is a large blue button labeled “Vertical Stories.”

Instagram for the TechCrunch portal has confirmed that this feature is being prepared, but is not currently published.

“This is an early prototype and is not currently being tested on Instagram,” a company spokesman told the portal.

First Reels, now vertical stories. Will Instagram change into a copy of TikTok?

Vertical swipe is more natural in many respects than horizontal swipe. After all, it’s the way we look at most websites and applications.

Of course, this prototype may never get into the final version of the application, but its existence suggests that Instagram is trying hard to compete with TikToku. He is already trying to do this with the Reels function, which brings to the fore not only with the help of an algorithm, but also changes in the design of the application.

If this feature gets into the final version of the application, it could indicate a change that Instagram can go through. The platform could potentially deviate from more static content, such as photos and posts shared in Feed. Vertical stories would probably focus on videos, not images.