Facebook is making some design-related changes to Instagram. The company on Instagram’s help page today announced that starting in February, it is going to make it easier for people to connect and share on the app. As part of the design overhaul, Instagram is making few changes to the navigation bar present at the bottom of the app. The changes include bringing back the Compose button in the center of the bar and moving the Reels button to the right of the compose button. Instagram is completely removing the Shop tab from the navigation bar.
“Starting in February, we are changing Instagram’s navigation to make it easier for people to share and connect with their friends and interests. The navigation bar at the bottom of the app will now have the shortcut for creating content in the center and Reels to the right. As part of this change, the Instagram Shop tab will be removed. You will still be able to set up and run your shop on Instagram as we continue to invest in shopping experiences that provide the most value for people and businesses across feed, stories, reels, ads and more,” the company wrote on its help page.
Instagram faced major criticism from its users including celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner after it rolled out TikTok-like changes to the app last year. Users felt that the app had deviated from its main purpose and was forcing full screen TiKTok-like video feeds on users. The algorithm changes to the feed led to showing up of more full screen video feeds and an increase in recommended posts from accounts that users are not following. The company, after facing backlash from users, finally rolled back the changes.
