Instagram has finally added one of its most requested features, but there is a catch.
From today, Instagram users on iOS will be able to zoom in on both photo and video content. Pretty cool right? Though you may have also noticed that as soon as you took your fingers away from the screen, the image came back to its original state. That’s the catch: you can’t zoom in on a specific element then get your digits out the way for a closer look, you have to keep your fingers on screen while you’re zoomed in.
Why, exactly, the function has been designed this way is unclear. It may simply be to avoid having people accidently double-tap and like posts when they seek to zoom out again – but Instagram does always seek to put their own spin on things. For example, while you can switch to full-screen mode for content on YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook, you can’t on Instagram – which is odd given the platform’s focus is all about image quality. In fairness, Instagram has added a range of content improvements over the past year or so, including support for landscape and portrait formats and upping their image quality to 1080p, but there are still some elements on which the platform has refused to budge – either by choice or technical limitation.
However, as noted, zoom has long been one of the most requested features on Instagram so today’s announcement is big news, regardless of their alternate approach. There have always been zoom workarounds and processes available, but now the capability will be built in and easier to utilize. Plus, with the platform now in a direct battle with Snapchat, you can expect Instagram to keep rolling out the updates at pace to build on their growing momentum.
Currently, Instagram’s Zoom is available today for iOS and will be available on Android in the coming weeks.