Instagram introduces remix photos, reel templates, more features

With the popularity of TikTok growing exponentially, Meta-owned Instagram is now pushing short form videos - Reels - on the platform. Instagram has now officially released a slew of new tools and features that will enhance the user experience while making Reels on the platform.

It has also announced that any video post shorter than 15 minutes will be shared as a Reel. Notably, videos posted earlier will remain unchanged. Instagram has further announced that short videos (now Reels) posted by public accounts will be recommended more and will be more visible. This applies to Reels shorter than 90 seconds.

This announcement was made by Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Twitter.

Here are some other noteworthy features:

Public Photo Remix - Being the OG photo sharing platform, Instagram will now let users remix public photos in their Reels, allowing users to choose any public photo to add to their Reels.

Remix Layouts expansion - Instagram now allows users to choose between a green screen (chroma), horizontal/Vertical split screen, or even a Picture-in-picture reaction view for adding your own commentary/reactions to existing Reels.

Sequential Clip addition in Remix - Now you can add your content after the original, so it plays sequentially and not with the original video.

Templates - Finally templates for Reels are here. Templates allow users to create Reels with preloaded audio, and placeholders for clips, images, and text.

Dual Camera recording - This is an interesting addition, now Instagram will allow you to record your content and your reaction at the same time using front and rear cameras at once. This feature is available in a lot of Android phones, however, Instagram will support this across devices.