Instagram Could Potentially Split Reels into Its Own Standalone App

There’s no denying that Instagram has long shed its identity as a photo-sharing app. It’s now popularly known for its short-form reels content. This feature alone brings almost a couple of Billions of views monthly, giving a tough competition to TikTok. Seeing the success of Instagram Reels, the Meta-owned platform could be planning to turn the feature into its own separate app.

As per The Information, an anonymous source heard Instagram head Adam Mosseri talking about the same with his staff. The operation is code-named Project Ray. The new Reels app will feature more 3-minute Reels and improve recommendations for new and existing Instagram users in the US.

But that’s about all the information we know at the moment. Instagram or Mosseri haven’t commented, nor have they denied it for now. However, a standalone Reels app isn’t out of the possibility due to the success it has had with the audience. Plus, Instagram just last month announced their standalone video editing app “Edits”. This could be a direct competitor to CapCut, an app owned by ByteDance, which is the parent company of TikTok.

So Meta can come out with a separate short-form content app to compete with TikTok. This would be the right time for it too, as the future of TikTok is still somewhat uncertain in North America. It would also bring Instagram somewhat back to its roots which is something people have been asking for. But doing so also risks alienating their current audience and shifting to a new platform.

As someone hooked on to Reels, I wouldn’t mind the company detaching it from the general Instagram experience. That said, given the little information we have on the topic, we can’t draw any conclusions unless something substantial comes up. What are your thoughts on the topic? Would you use a separate Reels app? Let us know in the comments below.