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Snapchat invented Stories. Instagram copied Stories. Now Meta is repeating history and building a new standalone app that will basically copy Snapchat’s original core feature: disappearing photos.
The development of this app, named Instants, shouldn’t come as a surprise. Borrowing ideas, building on them, and winning anyway is less a coincidence for Meta than it is a business model.
Per Business Insider, Meta is working on an internal prototype of Instants – an evolution of the pre-existing Instagram feature named Shots, in which select users in various regions can send disappearing photos through Instagram DMs. And the timing for Instants is notable: Snapchat is preparing to release its first consumer version of its Specs AR glasses, while Meta aims to launch its first AR wearable glasses sometime in 2027.
The core “why” connecting Instants to the AR glasses race is really about user behavior and platform stickiness. Disappearing photo sharing is the habit that built Snapchat’s most loyal user base. In the near future, AR glasses will make in-the-moment photo sharing feel more natural.
We can think of Instants as Meta laying the groundwork to get users hooked on spontaneous photo sharing inside Instagram now, so that when AR glasses make that behavior effortless, they're already comfortable with it.
If Instagram Stories or Reels taught us anything, it's that Meta has a way of turning borrowed ideas into high-performing marketing channels. If Instants follows the same trajectory, disappearing content could quickly evolve from a casual friend-to-friend feature into a primary channel for brand storytelling.
For brands and creators, the lesson from every major Instagram feature launch is the same: get there early. Brands that invested in Stories when the feature first launched built audiences and drove results at a fraction of the cost it takes today. The same opportunity tends to present itself each time Meta rolls out something new, before the space gets crowded and paid competition drives up costs.
It's also worth considering the advertising potential. Meta has one of the most sophisticated ad platforms in the world, and it has consistently found ways to weave brand messaging into new features without disrupting the user experience too aggressively. Instants is currently an internal prototype, but if it launches publicly and gains traction, it would be surprising if a brand-facing ad system wasn't far behind.
This isn’t the first time that Meta has taken a page from Snapchat’s book. Most famously, they took Snapchat’s Stories feature, and gave it the same name and functions on Instagram. They also introduced Friends Map, their take on Snapchat’s Snap Map, promoting live location sharing and local business discovery.
We’ve also seen Meta borrow from TikTok with Reels and Twitter with Threads. And going back to the beginning, we saw how Facebook copied MySpace and Friendster’s core functions. Zuckerberg built on their concepts, but won the platform battle by owning a specific audience: college campuses. Then, when Meta couldn’t just copy a platform’s features, they bought it. Remember their $1 billion Instagram acquisition?
Creativity is not as powerful as distribution in this situation because Meta’s advertising infrastructure is the real differentiator. Where TikTok has an emphasis on authenticity and viral trends for monetization potential, Instagram focuses on curated content and established influencer partnerships.
In many ways, it’s hype versus long-lasting curation. It doesn’t really matter if Reels content is just recycled TikToks, because the monetization engine on Instagram is more powerful due to its user base, their interests, and their spending power.
Because of this, Meta won’t need to convince its audience to use Instants. The users are already here and loyal, so the app just needs to be convenient. Competition between platforms is now based on execution and monetization.
The Snapchat AR Specs versus Meta AR glasses race is the next frontier. Instants could be a training ground for content behaviors that translate naturally into AR glasses.
In the meantime, Instagram is quietly turning into a super-app by evolving through imitation like all the most popular modern apps. Social apps are part of an ecosystem where features are becoming standardized, like Stories, Reels, Shorts, TikToks, photo and video editors, filters, and disappearing messages and photos.
The bottom line for brands and creators is that Instants will be worth watching closely. It may be early days, but in Meta's world, those days don't last long.
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