Instagram tests making Reels the new home feed

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Instagram might be about to make the boldest move since it copied Stories from Snapchat: turning your entire home feed into TikTok-lite. 

According to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, the company is testing a new design in India that makes Reels the default home tab. 

In this test version, the first two tabs you see are Reels and DMs, the twin engines driving Instagram’s growth lately.

In a video Mosseri shared, the new layout looks like a mash-up of old Instagram and, well, TikTok. 

The familiar horizontal bar of Stories still sits on top, but once you start scrolling, the app transforms into an endless vertical feed of videos that could’ve come straight from the current Reels tab. 

Mosseri insists photos aren’t disappearing, posts from accounts you follow will still live in the feed.

However, the demo didn’t exactly make it clear where your cousin’s vacation pics would go among the barrage of dance trends and cooking hacks.

This isn’t Instagram’s first experiment in leaning harder on Reels. 

When Meta launched Instagram’s long-awaited iPad app earlier this year, it opened directly into Reels, which the company said was better suited to “lean back entertainment” on bigger screens. 

Now, with this India test, it seems Meta is seriously weighing whether to extend that strategy to its main app worldwide.

The potential shift says a lot about Instagram’s priorities. 

Despite its origins as a photo-sharing app, the company has been increasingly defined by video, first Stories, now Reels, as it tries to keep up with TikTok. 

And with messaging usage exploding too, it’s no surprise that DMs are getting a front-row seat in this new layout.

For now, the Reels-as-home experiment is opt-in and limited to India, but if history tells us anything, Instagram rarely tests something this big without plans to roll it out more broadly.

Is Instagram right to prioritize Reels and DMs over traditional photo posts, or is this the final nail in the coffin for what made the app special? Would you keep using Instagram if your home feed became just another TikTok clone, or is it time to find a new platform for photos? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.