50 Fun Facts About Instagram

Instagram is owned by which company?

The same parent runs Facebook, WhatsApp and Threads.

In which year did Instagram launch on iOS?

The app hit the App Store on October 6 and had a million registered users within two months.

Kevin Systrom co-founded Instagram with which Brazilian software engineer?

The two announced they were stepping down from the company in September 2018.

What was the name of the mobile check-in app that became Instagram?

Its founders noticed that photo-sharing was the feature users actually loved, and refocused on that.

The founders pivoted because their check-in app was too similar to which rival?

Ironically, Instagram then used the rival's API for location tagging until switching away in 2014.

'Instagram' is a portmanteau of 'instant camera' and which word?

Third-party apps were later banned from using 'insta' or 'gram' in their own names.

The very first Instagram post was a photo of what?

It was taken at Pier 38 and posted at 5:26 p.m. on July 16, 2010, months before the public launch.

Which company bought Instagram in April 2012?

The deal closed that September for $300 million in cash plus 23 million shares.

Roughly how much did Instagram sell for in 2012?

At the time the price was compared with the $35 million Yahoo had paid for Flickr in 2005.

Early Instagram photos were locked to a square of how many pixels, matching the iPhone's width?

The limit rose to 1080 pixels in 2015, the same year portrait and widescreen shapes were allowed.

An Instagram Story stays visible to others for how many hours?

Story Highlights, added in December 2017, are the version that never expires.

As of January 2019, how many million people used Stories every day?

The feature had only launched in August 2016.

In which year did Instagram reach one billion registered users?

It had taken two months to reach the first million and a year to reach ten million.

The Android app launched in April 2012 and was downloaded over how many million times in a day?

A feature-limited desktop interface followed that November.

Instagram's 2010 seed round came from Baseline Ventures and which other firm?

The $500,000 round closed on March 5, 2010, while the app was still a check-in service.

Which co-founder of Twitter invested in Instagram's $7 million Series A in 2011?

The round valued the company at around $20 million, a year before it sold for a billion.

Who became head of Instagram in October 2018 after the founders stepped down?

He later told a Senate hearing the company would bring back a chronological feed option.

The pilot to hide public like counts began in May 2019 in which country?

It expanded to six more markets that July and worldwide in November 2019.

IGTV, the standalone long-video app launched in 2018, was shut down in which year?

The company cited low usage and a shift to short-form video.

About how many people downloaded the original 2019 Threads messaging app before it was scrapped?

That was under 0.1% of monthly users; the Threads name was reused for a text network in 2023.

Reels, introduced in August 2020, was built to compete with which app?

Engagement still lagged well behind its rival as of 2022 despite heavy creator spending.

Reels was first rolled out in November 2019 in which country?

It then expanded to France and Germany before the global launch in 50 countries in August 2020.

As of January 2025, a Reel can run up to how long?

Reels started at 15 seconds, then 30, then 90 seconds from June 2022.

As of November 2024, Reels averaged how many billion views per day?

Monthly Reels users grew from 1.5 billion in 2022 to 1.8 billion in 2024.

In which year did the worst outage since 2008 take down Instagram and its sister apps?

The October 4 blackout was traced by security experts to a probable DNS problem.

How many million dollars did Ireland's Data Protection Commission fine Instagram in 2022?

The penalty came under the EU's then-new privacy laws.

Instagram Notes, launched in December 2022, limit posts to how many characters?

Friends can reply to a Note through direct messaging.

What is the name of the celebrity-conversation podcast Instagram launched in December 2023?

Its first episode paired rappers Ice Spice and Doja Cat.

Which country blocked Instagram in August 2024 after it deleted certain condolence posts?

The posts concerned the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

In which year did Instagram finally release a native iPad app?

Until then iPad owners ran the stretched iPhone version.

In which year was the Explore tab introduced?

It began as popular photos, nearby photos and search, and later added trending tags, channels and Stories.

Under which hashtag trend do users post a photo from their past?

Hashtags arrived in January 2011; the 'recent' hashtag feed was removed entirely in April 2023.

What does the 'Lux' filter, added in February 2012, do to a photo?

Slumber, Crema, Ludwig, Aden and Perpetua joined the filter family in December 2014.

Instagram's 2013 launch of 15-second video was seen as a response to which app?

The limit rose to one minute in March 2016.

Since February 2017, a single swipeable carousel post can hold up to how many photos or videos?

Carousels were square-only at first, with portrait and landscape added that August.

In which year did Instagram announce Direct, its private messaging feature?

Disappearing messages came in November 2016, with a notification if the recipient screenshots.

A photo sent through Direct can go to a maximum of how many people?

Messages from people you don't follow land as pending requests you must accept.

Stories, launched in August 2016, was widely noted as resembling which rival app?

Kevin Systrom called the criticism fair but said every feature has roots somewhere in tech history.

Story Highlights, introduced in December 2017, are also known by what name?

They sit as circles under the profile bio and never expire.

In which year could users first apply for a blue verified badge themselves?

The badge had existed since December 2014, but only Instagram could hand it out.

The first image advertisements appeared in US feeds on November 1 of which year?

Video ads followed almost a year later, and the platform passed one million advertisers in March 2017.

Which Instagram stand-alone app turns photos into one-second back-and-forth looping videos?

Bolt was a disappearing-photo messenger and Hyperlapse made time-lapse tracking shots.

Third-party apps were banned from using 'gram' and which other string in their names?

The rule came with the 2016 cut-off of feed API access for outside developers.

In which year did Instagram switch its feed from chronological to algorithmic order?

Users begged followers to turn on post notifications; the company did not back down.

What unpopular change did a December 2018 update briefly impose on the feed?

The company variously called it a bug and a test accidentally released too widely.

In November 2020, the activity-feed tab was replaced by which new tab?

A Reels tab took over the new-post button's spot at the same time, to much grumbling.

Leaked 2021 research said Instagram worsened body image for one in how many teenagers?

The Wall Street Journal published the internal slides, which found girls particularly vulnerable.

Which project did the parent company 'pause' after the 2021 backlash over teen mental health?

The company said it was looking into concerns raised by regulators and parents.

The Edits video app was announced in 2025 as a response to US action against which rival editor?

After delays it launched for both iPhone and Android on April 21, 2025.

Live Rooms, launched in March 2021, lets how many people go live together?

The same month, adults were barred from messaging teens who don't follow them.