Facebook is pretty clear with its imminent plans to unify all its apps to the marquee platform, including the controversial merging of end-to-end encryption currently available on WhatsApp. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, however, has so far shared the vision without delving much into the details. But we may be seeing the first instance of the company’s plans as Instagram has been spotted bearing an extended branding on the Android app that says – Instagram by Facebook.
Spotted by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong, Instagram’s Android app has the ‘Instagram by Facebook’ branding. It is not clear what app version brings the change to Instagram branding but the new branding is expected to show up soon. The new branding will also come to iOS. There isn’t any piece of information, such as if there any features borrowed from Facebook app, available beyond this point.
Instagram will have a new branding called “Instagram from Facebook pic.twitter.com/deg5X0B1iO
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 29, 2019
At the SXSW 2019, Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, echoed the sentiment that WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton expressed after leaving Facebook. Systrom said he is sore about losing independence within the Facebook-owned Instagram. Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 for a total sum of $1 billion.
Zuckerberg-led Facebook has since been implementing methods to monetise the services that are insanely popular among the users. After announcing the arrival of advertisements on WhatsApp, the company said in January that it is mulling integrating its three apps – Facebook’s marquee app, Instagram, and WhatsApp – to unify the experience for the collective user base.
