Instagram is testing small changes to the design of its stories.

Instagram is testing a redesign of its stories. The vertical navigation appears.

Currently, Instagram Stories can be viewed by swiping left. You can then switch from one story to another by swiping left or tapping the left or right side of the screen to move between multiple posts. That being said, according to Matt Navarra, it looks like the company is now testing something slightly different, but not entirely new. Explanation.

Instagram is testing a redesign of its stories

Matt Navarra’s tweet reveals that Instagram is currently testing a subtle redesign of its stories. Now users will be able to move between stories vertically. And if this sounds familiar, it’s because this method is already being used in TikTok and YouTube Shorts, among others. It would seem that this way of working is more intuitive, since scrolling down vertically resembles “normal”web site scrolling, as opposed to scrolling left or right horizontally.

Vertical navigation appears

It is possible that by adopting a more familiar gesture, Instagram hopes to attract more users to its platform, the transition from TikTok or YouTube Shorts will be easier. At the same time, it may encourage more authors to use said platform.

As Matt Navarra points out, Instagram previously said it had a prototype of this version of the story navigation in February 2021, but it wasn’t released to the public at the time. It would seem that now the teams have made sufficient progress on this issue, even if today it is just a test. Depending on the results of this experiment, Instagram will decide whether to offer it to everyone or not. To be continued!