Instagram is hitting the download button again with new Instant photos

Instagram is also hitting back at competitors like Snapchat and BeReal with a new photo-sharing model. it’s called “Instants,” which are ephemeral photos that you cannot edit and that you can share with your close friends or followers. Instants are available worldwide starting Wednesday as a feature in the inbox of the Instagram app and as a separate app that is being tested in select countries.

To get an Instant from the Instagram app, go to your DM box and look in the upper right corner of a photo or a bunch of photos. When you send a photo, your friends can reply with an emoji and send a reply to your DMs, but when they see it, the photo disappears for them. At the same time it disappears again after 24 hoursand cannot be captured in photographs or paintings.

However, your Instants will stay in your archives for up to a year, and you can share them as a replay to your Instagram Stories if you want. You can also edit an Instant post after sending it or remove it from your database.

The Instant mobile app, which appeared in Italy and Spain in Aprilit gives you “quick access to the camera” and only requires an Instagram account, Instagram says. “The times you share on another app are visible to your friends on Instagram and vice versa. We’re testing the app to see how our community uses it, and we’ll continue to update it as we learn more.”

Instagram, in its testing, has seen that people “like to use Instants to share frequent, real moments of their day,” according to Instagram boss Adam Moseri. “And we know that sharing these kinds of moments with friends is a big part of what makes Instagram Instagram, but we also know that most people don’t share much on their social media anymore.”