Instagram Trials a Small-Screen Reels Viewer for Mobile Devices

Ever found yourself in the middle of watching a reel that you want to message a friend about, but you’re worried about closing Instagram and losing the reel forever?

Well, it seems as if Instagram has an update for that!

A new trial is exploring the potential of a small picture-in-picture viewer, which would essentially minimise the reel view screen and place it in a corner of your screen – with the reel playing as you navigate other apps on your device.

What is the Point of This New Picture in Picture View?

The main benefit of the picture-in-picture reels view window is to enable users to keep watching their favourite reels, while completing other tasks on their device.

As consumers grow more restless and attentions wain, being able to watch a longer reel or video while performing other tasks is crucial. The impact this will have on user retention, on Instagram video views, and on engagement is stark. Combined with purchased Instagram views and comments, it could help creators to make longer videos as compelling and as successful as shorter bitesize ones.

A small number of users are currently testing this new functionality, but the hope is that this will roll out on a wider basis soon.