Instagram Stories Allows Photos, Videos That Are More Than 24 Hours Old

Instagram Stories has been updated to allow users to post photos and videos that are more than 24 hours old. The added feature appears to be Instagram’s way of copying Snapchat’s Memories feature.

“Starting today, you can add photos and videos to your story, even if you took them more than 24 hours ago. Now, you’ll be able to easily find and choose anything from your camera roll and share it instantly with friends,” Instagram said on its blog.

The added feature works very similarly to how users can post photos and videos on Instagram Stories. Swiping app from the Instagram Stories camera will bring up photos and videos that were taken within 24 hours. When users swipe further down, they’ll access their photos and media that are more than 24 hours old. This section brings up the user’s complete camera roll.

Users can select an image or a video and publish it like a normal Instagram Story. The one major difference here is that the date when the photo or video was taken will automatically appear on the image. Like other Instagram Story stickers, the date can be dragged around and placed anywhere on the photo or video. Users can also change the date’s look by tapping on it, resizing it or have it completely removed by dragging it to the trash can icon.

This new feature for Instagram Stories is available on version 22 of the iOS app and version 18 on the Android app.

Facebook, which owns Instagram, has been copying Snapchat’s ephemeral photos and videos across its apps. This added feature for Instagram Stories appears to be another feature that’s being copied from Snapchat. Last year, Snapchat launched Memories, which allowed users to stitch together a group of previously saved photos and videos to create one single story, as pointed out by Engadget. Snapchat Memories allowed users to share one long Snapchat Story composed of photos and videos that may be more than 24 hours old. The added feature for Instagram Stories may not be as expansive as Snapchat Memories, but it does seem like it could be headed in the same direction.

In other Instagram news, the photo and video sharing service has announced that it’s tool for branding sponsored content is now available to all users that have access to Instagram’s Insights data. The tool, which was first introduced back in June and was later made available to more accounts this past August, allows influencers to clearly label their sponsored content by having a “Paid Partnership with” tag present on top of their posts.

“Now creators that have access to the branded content tool will receive in-app notifications when our systems find content that falls outside of our policy,” Instagram said on its blog. “In these cases, the content's creator will be notified through the Instagram app and will have the option to tag a business. These notifications are intended to make it easier to use the “Paid Partnership with” tag and educate the community on the Instagram's branded content.”