Instagram users found a surprising update when they went to check out some holiday photos Thursday morning: they now need to scroll or tap through their feed horizontally.
The Facebook-owned photo-sharing service introduced the feature with instructions in the app to “Tap through posts, just like you tap through stories,” referring to the Snapchat-style sharing feature where photos can disappear after 24 hours. Some users reported that their Instagram feeds reverted back to the original vertical scrolling format shortly after receiving the update. It’s unclear if the change was just a test.
Like many major updates to popular technology, this one is already facing backlash from users. On Twitter, #instagramupdate was the number one trending hashtag in the U.S., where people complained that the new feature makes it harder to scroll past posts they don’t care about, including advertisements. Instagram did not formally announce the update as of Thursday morning and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Many compared the update to the ill-fated Snapchat redesign that even inspired a petition of over 1 million signatories earlier this year. Snap, the company that owns the app, actually ended up redoing its redesign shortly after the release, and CEO Evan Spiegel later acknowledged that the entire project was “rushed” in a memo to employees.
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