Meta is testing a highly anticipated feature on Instagram Reels that allows users to pause a video just by tapping on it.
For now, the ability to pause videos is only available to a small group of users around the world, Meta said, according to CNBC.
Unlike TikTok, Instagrammers previously were only able to pause a video by holding down the screen, requiring more effort and not allowing users to move their fingers from their screens in order to keep it paused.
Additionally, prior to the new feature, one tap on an Instagram Reel would simply turn off the video’s audio, but the clip itself would keep playing.
The feature is something that users have been requesting, often taking to other social media platforms to ask Meta for a solution.
“hello @instagram, can I please request a pause button on reels?? sincerely, a grieving former TikTok scroller,” one person posted on X during the recent temporary TikTok shutdown.
“We’re going to learn what’s going to happen with TikTok, and regardless of that, I expect Reels on Instagram and Facebook to continue growing,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a call with analysts Wednesday.
Instagram’s new feature is just one of many ways the tech giant is trying to capitalize on the potential shutdown of TikTok and to get so-called “TikTok refugees” to migrate to the Meta-owned app.
TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, briefly went dark earlier this month before restoring service to users less than 24 hours later.
However, TikTok’s future is still uncertain, and it could be permanently banned on April 5; it’s already unavailable on both the Apple and Google app stores.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently announced a new app called Edits, a video-editing utility that could replace the ByteDance-owned video-editing app CapCut — which was also banned alongside TikTok.
Additionally, Instagram’s profile grids now display all posts as rectangles with a 4:5 ratio rather than squares.
Mosseri added that they are looking into moving story highlights into the grid, making a separate tab for them — just like the individual tabs for Reels and tagged photos — rather than keeping them as circles at the top of your profile.
A new feature in the Reels tab will allow you to see which friends have liked or commented on a video — similar to the chaotic, old Instagram “activity” tab that was removed in 2019.
The Meta-owned company is now offering creators large cash bonuses to exclusively post Reels on Instagram. The offers reportedly range from $10,000 to $50,000 per month.
