instagram:

Instagram 3.0 – Photo Maps & More

We’ve been working hard on a major update for both Apple and Android devices. We’re excited to announce that today Instagram 3.0 is available to everyone. Download Instagram 3.0 for Apple here or for Android here.

With every major release, we pick a theme – and for this one we’ve focused on the browsing experience. We’ve introduced a new and unique way to browse your photos and others’ photos on a map, which means you’re no longer constrained to browsing through page after page of photos. We’ve also worked hard on updating all the screens in our app to be more visually consistent and polished. You’ll notice new layouts throughout the app that feel fresh, yet familiar. Our engineers have also been hard at work making sure that the browsing experience is as fast as possible. On newer devices, you should notice a marked improvement in speed while browsing. With that, we’ve introduced infinite scrolling in feeds so that you can quickly see more photos while browsing around the app. And finally, we’ve paid special attention to keeping Instagram a safe place. With improved reporting tools, users can now flag both photos and comments for review with ease. We’re very excited by how much has gone into this release – as always, please provide us with feedback as you explore the new features.

Photo Maps

Introducing Photo Maps, a new way to browse photos on Instagram. Your Photo Map appears on your profile and lets you showcase your photos on a map. Also, you’ll be able to see other users’ maps from their profiles as well.

Important: Before your map is visible to the public, you’ll be prompted to review any photos you previously geotagged. Additionally, we’ve made it easy to remove photos from your map at any time, which will remove any associated geo-data but leave the photos intact on your profile. To read more about how Photo Maps work, read more here.

New look for user profiles, the Explore tab, hashtag & location pages

Also, we now display bigger grid photos to make it easier to browse large collections of photos and see them too. You’ll find bigger grid photos on user profiles, the Explore tab, as well as on hashtag and location pages.

New look for the photo upload screen

• Larger text box for captions: It’s now easier to write and edit longer captions for your photos.
• Geotag your photos by selecting “Add to Your Photo Map”: Let people know where you took your photo by turning “Add to Your Photo Map” on. By enabling this feature on your photo, you will store your current location with the photo and it will show up on your map. You’ll also have the ability to choose a specific place name (e.g. “South Park Cafe”) to associate with your photo. Learn more in our help center.

Infinite scrolling (automatic “load more”)

Now, when you get to the bottom of a page, we’ll automatically load more photos for you — no need to tap a “load more” button.

Many speed improvements to make the app faster & more responsive

Instagram v3.0 contains many speed and loading optimizations on newer devices.

Users can now report individual comments as abuse or spam

• To ensure Instagram is a safe and fun place to share your photos, we’ve introduced a way to report comments. Now, just swipe right or tap on a comment and tap the trashcan icon. You can then select “Delete & Report Abuse” to remove the comment and report it in a single action. If you see an abusive or spammy comment on someone else’s photo, you can now easily report it as spam by following the steps above, though you will see a different icon instead of the trash icon. Note: Reporting comments that are not on your own photos is not included in the current Android version, but we do plan to add it in a future release.
• Flagging a user has been simplified to one choice: “Report for Spam.” To report a user, tap the button at the top right corner of their profile page, then “Report for Spam.” If you’d like to report a user for other reasons, please report the abusive or spammy comments or images.
• To report a photo, just tap the “…” button below the photo and then “Report Inappropriate.”

Visit the Instagram Help Center to learn more about version 3.0.

Instagram v3.0 is here - a whole new look including Photo Maps.  What’s the verdict?