We finally have an idea of what Instagram’s rumored text-based Twitter competitor might look and feel like, as reported by Lia Haberman, who shared in her ICYMI Substack newsletter what appears to be a leaked marketing slide and details about the app.
The slide doesn’t give the app a separate name — instead just calling it “Instagram’s new text-based conversation app” — but the app is apparently codenamed P92 or, alternatively, Barcelona, according to Haberman. Users can log in with their Instagram username and password, and your followers, handle, bio, and verification will be transferred from the main app.
In the app you will see a feed and you can create text messages of up to 500 characters with links, photos and videos attached.
The app looks something like a combination of Instagram and Twitter, based on two screenshots in the leaked marketing slide. And Meta will apparently have some good moderation controls from the start, “equipping you with settings to control who can reply to you and mention your account,” the slide says. All the accounts you have blocked on Instagram will apparently be transferred.
Perhaps most importantly, the new Instagram text app will also have an element of decentralization. “Soon our app will be compatible with certain other apps like Mastodon,” Instagram’s slide says. “Users of these other apps can search, follow, and use your profile and content if you’re public, or if you’re private, and approve them as followers.” (Presumably that compatibility comes through ActivityPub, which Meta has been researching along with other tech companies.)
If the app is widely released, Instagram could become an even more popular destination than it already is. With Twitter’s continued deterioration, many people are looking for their next place to share tweet-like updates. While platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky have gained some traction, a text-based Instagram app would provide a way for people who have already built up a following on the platform to just keep posting there without having to yell at followers in yet another place.
Meta declined to comment. In March, it issued the following statement about its efforts to Platform game: “We are exploring a self-contained decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there is an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.”