Instagram redesigns its homescreen with Reels and Shop in focus

Instagram's new homescreen shuffles the icons pushing notifications and the new post button on top.

Instagram's new homescreen. (Instagram)

Instagram is redesigning its homescreen with two things in focus - Reels and shopping. Instagram has now pushed the Reels button to the center of the bottom tab, and replaced notifications with the Shop button. Instagram had already replaced the Explore button with Reels but it's giving the TikTok-rival more prominence now.

In the new Instagram home screen, Reels is at the center of the bottom menu, and sitting next to it is the Shop button. Reels has replaced the ‘+' icon that lets you publish photos and videos on Instagram. This adds more icons on top of the home screen. You'll find the + icon, notifications (heart) icon and the Messenger (Direct) icons on top. The explore button is back on the bottom tab just before Reels.

“We don't take these changes lightly – we haven't updated Instagram's home screen in a big way for quite a while. But how people create and enjoy culture has changed, and the biggest risk to Instagram is not that we change too fast, but that we don't change and become irrelevant,” Adam Mosseri said in a blog post.

Instagram started experimenting with different home screen designs in September. It tested moving some icons around while keeping Reels and Shop in focus. It has now settled on this new design. The new update hasn't hit Instagram yet, at least for users in India. It should be rolled out soon.

Instagram's new change echoes the company's focus in videos and the platform becoming ‘the' social media marketplace. Instagram is no longer the photo sharing platform that it launched as, and has now become more of an experimental hub with multiple features.