For a while now, Instagram has allowed advertisers to upload multiple photos and video to an album carousel. Now, that same feature is officially available to all Instagram users, making it super easy to share media from events, vacations, and other special occasions.
“With this update, you no longer have to choose the single best photo or video from an experience you want to remember,” Instagram wrote in a blogpost on Wednesday. “Now, you can combine up to 10 photos and videos in one post and swipe through to see them all.”
Instagram says creating albums is as easy as tapping on multiple photos. Users will be able to change the order and even apply a filter to everything at once or one by one.
As of now, album posts can only have a single caption, and they can only be square. But they add a fun new way to share multiple images without spamming the feed of your followers.
A permanent narrative
Sharing multiple images could be a boon for a lot of markets, including journalism, sports, cooking, and more. Being able to share up to 10 photos and videos in a single post will allow people to create permanent narratives—as opposed to Stories, which disappear after 24 hours—turning Instagram into a much more powerful storytelling platform.
For now, the feature is a little limiting, but it sounds like Instagram is working to build it out, and will likely allow users to write captions for individual photos and even upload in portrait mode.
The update is available starting today for iOS and Android.
