You may soon be able to remix photos posted by your friends or any public profiles on Instagram. Remix, originally introduced in March 2021, allowed users to remix reels to compete with TikTok’s Duets feature and later expanded to any public videos posted on Instagram.
The new test allows users to record their reels alongside a photo from another user or use that photo as a virtual background.
Remix for Photos on Instagram
Instagram started testing this feature in February this year as spotted by the app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi. Users can turn off remixing in their account settings or for individual posts.
To use the new feature, users have to tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner of any photo published after this update goes live. From there, you’ll choose “Remix This Photo” and record a video. Users can put a video alongside the photo or use the photo as a virtual background. The resulting remixed video will then be visible anywhere you share your reels.
Instagram Reels, launched in 2020 has been taking inspiration from TikTok for several features since launch. While the concept of Reels itself is copied from TikTok, several features including Remix, the ability to respond to comments with Reels, and more have been taken from TikTok. Instagram even started experimenting with full-screen vertical home feed to make the app look even more like TikTok.
