Instagram launches new app to 'rival TikTok' with 'secret' bonus features not available on main app
Instagram might just have released the perfect companion to all your short-form video content goals, as a new attempt to emerge victorious from their rivalry with TikTok has secret bonus features you won't find on the main app.
The rise of TikTok has transformed the world of online content creation, as what was once dominated by the opposite ends of photo and long-form video content on sites like YouTube has now shifted to a much shorter and portrait-framed alternative.
Many of the world's leading social media platforms have had to follow in the footsteps of TikTok to avoid being left behind, and Instagram is one of ByteDance's leading rivals, having deployed the 'Reels' feature in retalliation.
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Instagram is certainly no stranger to 'stealing' ideas directly from its competitors, as it famously nabbed the now-iconic 'Stories' feature from Snapchat years after it had been introduced to the world, and Meta's new app could give Instagram the leg up it needs to win out against TikTok in the long run.
As reported by the Sun, 'Edits' is a new app available on both Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store for Android devices, letting users create their perfect videos and upload them easily and directly to their Instagram feed or any other app with no watermark.
"Edits is a free video editor that makes it easy for creators to turn their ideas into videos, right on their phone," reads the description of the app on both storefronts. "It has all the tools you need to support your creation process, all in one place."
Unless you're creating without edits, you're going to need some aptitude with video editing in order to bring your ideas to life on these short-form video platforms, and Edits could provide a tool similar to what ByteDance-owned CapCut has done for TikTok.
With TikTok's potential ban in the United States still up in the air as well, this could be Meta's way of setting themselves up for a future where they dominate the short-form video content market.
In terms of what Edits offers - especially compared to just creating on Instagram itself - you'll be able to edit videos with 'single frame precision', shoot with a number of highly desirable settings to make your videos look their best, animate images with the power of AI, create custom backgrounds, enhance audio, and automatically generate captions, among other things.
In addition, Edits also provides a number of benefits specific to users who post their content on Instagram directly, as you're not only able to find inspiration for your next trending hit by viewing content that's currently trending, but you can also track the performance of your posts with live insights and dive deeper into what effects the engagement of your reels.
This, hypothetically, will give creators a greater potential to grow on the platform, and we've already seen the significant financial benefits of growing an audience on social media as creators are able to earn hundreds of thousands each year through their posts.
Edits has already garnered over 1,000,000 downloads in just two days on the Google Play Store alone, and it currently sits at the top of Apple's Photo & Video app charts, proving that Instagram's new tool might prove to be a mighty success in their battle against TikTok.