Instagram is testing the ability to post 60-second Stories with a small group of users. Currently, Stories length is capped at 15 seconds.
Instagram may soon be extending the time limit for videos posted as Stories. The media-sharing app is testing Stories that last up to one minute instead of 15 seconds at the moment.
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In a statement, an Instagram spokesperson explained that “the ability to create longer Stories posts comes highly requested by our community. We’re excited to be testing 60-second Stories so that people can create and view Stories with fewer interruptions.”
The change was initially spotted last month by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi in the app’s source code. The message he found there is now also being shown to some users publicly.
Instagram is rolling out its longer stories feature
Videos of up to 60 seconds will no longer be broken up into segments
h/t @gyuval pic.twitter.com/coh8ZA4BQM
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) November 23, 2021
If and when the change is implemented, Instagram will provide an uninterrupted experience on longer videos, which up until now are segmented into 15-seconds successive frames – the maximum duration of Instagram Stories.
Instagram is testing the change with a small number of users as part of what Mosseri explained earlier this year to be a wider plan for the company to simplify its user experience on many fronts.
Back in January, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri suggested that the company was looking to consolidate the app’s video products, to simplify experience and facilitate the creative process of its users, cutting down on some of the platform’s tools.
He stated on a recent Decoder podcast that Instagram is “looking about how we can – not just with IGTV, but across all of Instagram – simplify and consolidate ideas, because last year we placed a lot of new bets. I think this year we have to go back to our focus on simplicity and craft.”
Earlier this month, Instagram merged the video experience on the platform into a single format, by retiring the IGTV feature and grouping up all videos into its feed section.