Instagram is once again going back to its roots, or at least, borrowing heavily from someone else’s playbook. Because this time, it’s not just a feature. It’s a whole new app. Instagram has started testing a new standalone app called Instants, focused entirely on sharing disappearing photos and short videos with friends.
What is Instagram’s new Instants app?
The concept is simple. You open the app, take a photo or short clip, and send it instantly. No filters, no heavy edits, no overthinking. The content can only be viewed once and disappears, or expires after 24 hours if unopened. The app is currently being tested in select regions like Spain and Italy, which suggests this is still very much an experiment rather than a full global rollout.
In terms of positioning, Instants feels like a mix of Snapchat, BeReal, and even Instagram’s own older experiments with disappearing content. But this time, it is packaged as a dedicated experience instead of being buried inside DMs.
Why is Instagram launching yet another app?
If this feels familiar, that is because it is. Instagram has a long history of borrowing ideas from competitors and turning them into mainstream features. Stories and Reels are the obvious examples, and now Instants feels like the next step in that same playbook.
The bigger shift here is behavioral. Social media is moving away from polished, public posts toward private, low-pressure sharing between close friends. Instants is clearly built for that. It strips things down to just the camera and the moment, removing the pressure to curate or edit. It also limits who you can share with. Content is typically restricted to mutual followers or close friends, which keeps the experience more personal and less performative.
Unsplash
This clearly feels like Instagram taking another shot at Snapchat’s core idea. Disappearing photos, one-time viewing, and instant sharing are all straight from that playbook. The twist is in how it is being tested. Instead of adding it inside Instagram, Meta is trying a separate, stripped-down app. It is less about replacing Instagram and more about exploring new behavior, even if past standalone apps have not always worked.
After being teased in the second beta, the new “Bubbles” feature is finally available in Android 17 Beta 3. This is the biggest change to Android multitasking since split-screen mode. I had to see how it worked—come along with me.
Now, it should be mentioned that this feature will probably look a bit familiar to Samsung Galaxy owners. One UI also allows for putting apps in floating windows, and they minimize into a floating widget. However, as you’ll see, Google’s approach is more restrained.
App Bubbles in Android 17
There’s a lot to like already
First and foremost, putting an app in a “Bubble” allows it to be used on top of whatever’s happening on the screen. The functionality is essentially identical to Android’s older feature of the exact same name, but now it can be used for apps in addition to messaging conversations.
To bubble an app, simply long-press the app icon anywhere you see it. That includes the home screen, app drawer, and the taskbar on foldables and tablets. Select “Bubble” or the small icon depicting a rectangle with an arrow pointing at a dot in the menu.
Bubbles on a phone screen
The app will immediately open in a floating window on top of your current activity. This is the full version of the app, and it works exactly how it would if you opened it normally. You can’t resize the app bubble, but on large-screen devices, you can choose which side it’s on. To minimize the bubble, simply tap outside of it or do the Home gesture—you won’t actually go to the Home Screen.
Multiple apps can be bubbled together—just repeat the process above—but only one can be shown at a time. This is a key difference compared to One UI’s pop-up windows, which can be resized and tiled anywhere on the screen. Here is also where things vary depending on the type of device you’re using.
If you’re using a phone, the current bubbled apps appear in a row of shortcuts above the window. Tap an app icon, and it will instantly come into view within the bubble. On foldables and tablets, the row of icons is much smaller and below the window.
Another difference is how the app bubbles are minimized. On phones, they live in a floating app icon (or stack of icons) on the edge of the screen. You are free to move this around the screen by dragging it. Tapping the minimized bubble will open the last active app in the bubble. On foldables and tablets, the bubble is minimized to the taskbar (if you have it enabled).
Bubbles on a foldable screen
Now, there are a few things to know about managing bubbles. First, tapping the “+” button in the shortcuts row shows previously dismissed bubbles—it’s not for adding a new app bubble. To dismiss an app bubble, you can drag the icon from the shortcuts row and drop it on the “X” that appears at the bottom of the screen.
To remove the entire bubble completely, simply drag it to the “X” at the bottom of the screen. On phones, there’s also an extra “Manage” button below the window with a “Dismiss bubble” option.
Better than split-screen?
Bubbles make sense on smaller screens
That’s pretty much all there is to it. As mentioned, there’s definitely not as much freedom with Bubbles as there is with pop-up windows in One UI. The latter allows you to treat apps like windows on a computer screen. Bubbles are a much more confined experience, but the benefit is that you don’t have to do any organizing.
Samsung One UI pop-up windows
Of course, Android has supported using multiple apps at once with split-screen mode for a while. So, what’s the benefit of Bubbles? On phones, especially, split-screen mode makes apps so small that they’re not very useful.
If you’re making a grocery list while checking the store website, you’re stuck in a very small browser window. Bubbles enables you to essentially use two apps in full size at the same time—it’s even quicker than swiping the gesture bar to switch between apps.
If you’d like to give App Bubbles a try, enroll your qualified Pixel phone in the Android Beta Program. The final release of Android 17 is only a few months away (Q2 2026), but this is an exciting feature to check out right now.
For as long as Android phones have existed, people have dreamed of using them as the brains inside a desktop computing setup. Samsung accomplished this nearly a decade ago, but the rest of the Android world has been left out. Android 17 is finally changing that with a new desktop mode, and I tried it out.
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