Instagram Makes Stitching Together Pics A Breeze With New Layouts App

Putting together a photo collage for your social networks is easier than ever thanks to Layouts, a new app released by Instagram. The app makes it easy for mobile users to stitch together multiple pictures and create montages, mirror effects or photo booth-style strips of images.

"From imagining mirrored landscapes to sharing multiple moments from an entire adventure, we’ve seen these kinds of visual storytelling happening on Instagram and we’re inspired by it," Instagram said in a blog post Monday announcing the app, which will initially be available only for Apple devices. Layouts will be available for Android "in the coming months."

Layouts is the third app released by Instagram, after the company's principal app and Hyperlapse, a video time-lapse app that was released in August. Photo collage apps are nothing new for smartphones, but many of these apps come with advertisements or require purchase. By giving away Layouts for free, Instagram is broadening its feature set and giving users more reasons to keep coming back to its social network.