Instagram's two standalone apps have been recently removed from mobile app stores.
A recent TechCrunch article reported that Instagram removed its time-lapse video app Hyperlapse and looping video app Boomerang around March 2.
The removal follows the company's announcement that it would stop supporting the Instagram TV app (IGTV app) and its plan to consolidate a few of its standalone offerings on the main Instagram app.
The Reason Behind The Removal
Instagram spokesperson Christine Pai said that the company removed its support of the two apps to better focus its efforts on the main Instagram app, per The Verge. She also added that Boomerang is still supported in-app in Stories, while another separate offering, Layout, is still a standalone app in the Store.
Layout is one of Instagram's standalone apps that lets you organize photos into collages.
Instagram did not make a formal announcement regarding the removal of its two standalone apps even after its announcement about IGTV. However, a few people that noticed the apps' removal posted about it on Twitter. These people include social media consultant Matt Navarra, who tweeted about the removal on March 7.
Another Twitter user going by the Twitter handle, @WFBrother, replied to Navarra's tweet about the removal, saying that Boomerang is still downloadable via Direct Link.
It's Only a Matter of Time
The apps' removal from mobile app stores isn't a surprising move for Instagram.
Boomerang was released in 2015 to give users the ability to create short, looping videos by taking a burst of photos that could be posted on Instagram and Facebook. Meanwhile, Hyperlapse, which was made available to the world in 2014, lets users make professional-looking time-lapse videos while also giving impressive video stabilization for its time.
Hyperlapse image stabilization was made possible through Instagram's acquisition of Luma, the company responsible for the iOS app of the same name that lets its users record and share high-quality videos with video stabilization, per The Next Web's article.
Instagram made these apps to avoid "over-stuffing" its main Instagram app with too many features.
However, that concern is no longer valid as evidenced by Instagram's myriad of features which includes Stories, live video, short-form video content a la TikTok, and even online shopping. Additionally, the company doesn't see the need to separate features that could have been in the main app into standalone apps anymore due to its integration of creative tools into Instagram's camera.
An example of this integration is adding Boomerang's SloMo, Echo, and Duo effects into Instagram in 2020 after these effects were added to Boomerang in 2020.
As a result of this integration, a redundancy that doesn't make any sense to Instagram now has been created.
It isn't known if Instagram will integrate Layout's features into its main app. However, if the company does it in the future, then Layout will join Boomerang and Hyperlapse in Instagram Heaven.
