You’ll soon be able to book movie tickets and restaurant reservations with Instagram

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This was a long time coming, but it looks like Instagram is finally adding a payment system within their photo-sharing app.

First announced by TechCrunch, the option has only been rolled out to select Instagram users, but basically, it will allow you to buy goods and services on the app. While Instagram has its own ToS, it looks that the new payment options are backed by Facebook’s Payments rules. It has also been reported that not all users have the new feature, but some people in both the US and UK have announced that they see the payment options in their app as of this morning.

Image: Shopify

An Instagram spokesperson did confirm with TC that native payments for booking appointments had started rolling out for select partners and that you could start making purchases directly from shops and stores. Dinner reservation app Resy is one of the first to confirm the addition of the feature, stating that some of their clients’ Instagram Pages now offer the feature.

Instagram mentioned back in 2017 that they were working on a way to allow users to book appointments and services directly within the app, but at that time there was no mention of actual payment options. In 2016, the company started testing out the “Shoppable” tags, which allowed people to browse product before being redirected to the company’s website for the actual purchase, and new updates like this will just help continue to streamline the process – making it easier for users, while keeping them within the Instagram ecosystem.

Personally, I’m very excited about this addition to the platform. Instagram has always felt like a great tool for curating and purchasing things you enjoy, without all of the clutter surrounding many of the other social media platforms, so hopefully, we’ll see the full release soon.

Did you get the new update or are you still waiting? Do you even care?

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.