Instagram is rolling out several new features that borrow heavily from rival platforms, while also tweaking one of its more controversial updates from earlier this year.
Starting today, users can repost public Reels and grid posts directly from other accounts. Much like TikTok’s re-sharing tools, these reposts will appear in a dedicated tab on your profile and in the feeds of your followers. Previously, the main way to share someone else’s content was through Instagram Stories, making this new feature a shift toward a reblog-style experience.
Instagram is also introducing an opt-in location map, reminiscent of Snapchat’s Snap Map. The map appears in private messages and shows the last active location of friends who choose to share it. It can also highlight posts from popular locations or events — such as concerts or festivals — where multiple users are actively sharing content.
The company is updating its “friends’ activity” feature for Reels as well. First launched in the U.S. in January, the tab shows what Reels your friends have liked or reposted, prompting concerns over privacy. With the global rollout, Instagram is adding new controls: users can now hide their own likes and reposts from appearing in others’ feeds, and mute the activity of friends if it’s not relevant to them.
These changes are part of Instagram’s ongoing push to keep pace with competitors like TikTok and Snapchat, but they also highlight a longstanding tension on the platform. As Instagram has shifted toward algorithm-driven recommendations and short-form video, many original users and creators have complained about reduced visibility for traditional photo posts and a growing sense of feature overload. While the Snap Map-style tool and repost feed may add more ways to engage, they are unlikely to fully address the frustrations of those who preferred the platform’s earlier, photo-focused era.
