Meta just launched a brand new iPhone app called Instants. Built around ephemeral photo sharing, the new social media app is also the latest Instagram feature. Here’s what it does.

Instants is both a standalone iPhone app and feature inside of Instagram

Meta describes Instants as “a new way to share in the moment – with spontaneous, unfiltered photos– with friends.”

Here’s the high level description of the new app and feature from Meta:

Instants are ephemeral to viewers, but are saved in your archive for up to a year and can be reshared as a recap to Stories. Friends can react and reply, with replies going straight to DMs. There’s also an Instants companion app for quicker camera access. Full Teen Accounts and Family Center protections apply, including shared time limits, Sleep Mode, and parental supervision.

Why is Meta launching a new iPhone app and Instagram feature around ephemeral photo sharing? The company explains that it wants to push on organic social sharing.

We want to make it easier to share in the moment with friends — so we’re introducing Instants, a new way to share casual, everyday photos that disappear after your friends view them. Instants live in the bottom right corner of your Instagram inbox, and with a simple tap of the camera, you can share photos with close friends or mutuals (followers you follow back). No edits, no pressure, just life as it happens.

Here’s how the new Instants feature on Instagram works

Next, Meta details five ways to use the new Instants feature and app:

• Go to your Instagram inbox and tap the mini stack of photos at the bottom right corner.
• You can add a caption (unlike stories, you add the caption first!), but can’t further edit instants.
• Choose who to share your instants with – Close Friends or followers you follow back. Your friends can react, reply, and share instants as well.
• Tap the white button below the camera to share as many times as you want. An undo button will automatically appear the moment you share an instant in case you want to quickly take it back before it gets shared with friends.
• Instants you share will show up as a stack of photos in the bottom right corner of your friends’ inboxes, and disappear after viewed.

Meta describes Instants as primarily a new feature inside Instagram.

However, it says that early testers wanted a faster way to use Instants. For that reason, it’s “experimenting” with a standalone app.

The app gives you immediate access to the camera — just log in with your existing Instagram account. Instants you share on the separate app will show up for friends on Instagram and vice versa. We’re trying this separate app out to see how our community uses it, and we’ll continue to evolve it as we learn more.For those who want a quicker way to share in the moment, we’re also rolling out an Instants app in select countries on iOS and Android.

Instants for iPhone is available in the App Store starting today where offered, and the new Instagram feature also arrives now as a global release.

You can learn more about how Instants works here.