Meta Platforms launched two apps - Forum and Instants -- this month as part of its flagship social networking platforms, Facebook and Instagram. The latest move shows that the company is doubling down on stand-alone social apps modelled on already successful platforms.
Forum is Facebook Groups reimagined as a Reddit-style discussion platform with AI-powered search and recommendations, while Instants turns Instagram into a more spontaneous, Snapchat and BeReal-like space for ephemeral photo sharing.
What is Instants?
On May 13, Meta launched Instants as a new Instagram feature and a companion app focussed on quick photo sharing. The app allows users to send unfiltered disappearing photos to friends or mutual followers directly from Instagram’s inbox. Photos vanish after being viewed and disappear completely after 24 hours, though users can archive them privately or compile them into Stories later.
The app heavily borrows from already-popular social networking platforms like Snapchat and BeReal, emphasising spontaneous sharing without edits or filters. The feature supports reactions and replies through DMs, includes safety controls like screenshot blocking, and integrates Instagram’s Teen Account protections such as parental supervision, sleep mode, and time limits.
What is Forum?
Launched last week, the app pulls users’ Facebook Groups into a dedicated interface focussed on conversations, advice, and community discussions. After signing in with a Facebook account, users get a Reddit-like feed populated with posts from their groups alongside recommendations for new communities. Users can post under nicknames, browse groups, and maintain a separate group-focussed profile while anything shared on Forum still appears inside Facebook Groups.
A central feature of the app is also its AI-powered “Ask” tab that generates answers from discussions across Facebook Groups, similar to Google’s AI Overviews, pulling from Reddit content. Responses include links to the original posts so users can explore full discussions. Meta is also introducing AI tools for group administrators to assist with moderation and management.
Forum revives Meta’s earlier attempt at a dedicated Groups experience. Facebook launched a stand-alone Groups app in 2014 before shutting it down in 2017, but the renewed focus on community-driven discussions now aligns with the popularity of Reddit-style platforms and AI-assisted search. While launched without an official announcement, the app is currently only available to Apple users in the United States.
How are Forum and Instants related to Facebook and Instagram?
Forum is a stand-alone app built around Facebook Groups. Users thus have to log in to the app using their Facebook account, ensuring that their existing Groups automatically appear in the app, and anything posted on Forum is also visible inside Facebook Groups.
Meanwhile, Instants is tied directly to Instagram. It functions both as a feature inside Instagram’s DMs and as a separate companion app that uses the same Instagram account. Photos shared through the Instants app appear for friends on Instagram as well, making it an extension of Instagram focussed on quick, disappearing photo sharing.
Why did Meta launch these apps? Will they succeed?
These launches reflect a broader strategy inside Meta to rapidly release more specialised apps using AI-driven development efficiencies. Per an April report by The Wall Street Journal, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told its employees the company believes AI tools could allow Meta to build dozens of new apps far more quickly than before.
“We want to build a lot more apps, so there’s a bunch of stuff that we’re trying to figure out, and some of this we just need to figure out over time. Chris and I have been talking about ‘all right, well can we build 50 new apps?’ Like, yeah probably. But we probably should start by doing a few before we just.. ramp up,” Zuckerberg said. Chris Cox is Meta’s chief product officer.
However, critics argue many of Meta’s newer products increasingly resemble clones of existing platforms, with Threads mirroring X, and Meta Edits competing directly with CapCut in addition to these more recent May launches.
While data for Forum is not yet available, so far, the Instants app has crossed 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store within roughly two weeks of launch.
However, Meta has continued to struggle to build sustained engagement on its newer platforms. Its text-based platform Threads, launched in July 2023, still faces difficulties attracting creators and retaining momentum. This is reflected in the platform’s user numbers. In July 2024, Zuckerberg had shared that Threads had reached 175 million active users. However, in Meta’s latest quarterly results, the company reported that Threads now has over 150 million daily active users. The app currently has over 500 million downloads on Google Play Store. By comparison, Facebook has surpassed 10 billion downloads, while Instagram has crossed 5 billion downloads.
These latest app launches come at a time when Meta reported a decline of 20 million daily active users in the first quarter of this calendar year, across its Family of Apps including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Meta attributed the drop partly to internet outages in Iran and restrictions on WhatsApp in Russia, though the lack of platform-specific figures has also fuelled concerns about broader user fatigue and platform saturation.
In addition to experimenting with new app launches, Meta is also tweaking its algorithms, especially on Instagram and Facebook, to prioritise original content and reduce low-quality reposts in an effort to improve engagement.
Forum is Facebook Groups reimagined as a Reddit-style discussion platform with AI-powered search and recommendations, while Instants turns Instagram into a more spontaneous, Snapchat and BeReal-like space for ephemeral photo sharing.
What is Instants?
On May 13, Meta launched Instants as a new Instagram feature and a companion app focussed on quick photo sharing. The app allows users to send unfiltered disappearing photos to friends or mutual followers directly from Instagram’s inbox. Photos vanish after being viewed and disappear completely after 24 hours, though users can archive them privately or compile them into Stories later.
The app heavily borrows from already-popular social networking platforms like Snapchat and BeReal, emphasising spontaneous sharing without edits or filters. The feature supports reactions and replies through DMs, includes safety controls like screenshot blocking, and integrates Instagram’s Teen Account protections such as parental supervision, sleep mode, and time limits.
What is Forum?
Launched last week, the app pulls users’ Facebook Groups into a dedicated interface focussed on conversations, advice, and community discussions. After signing in with a Facebook account, users get a Reddit-like feed populated with posts from their groups alongside recommendations for new communities. Users can post under nicknames, browse groups, and maintain a separate group-focussed profile while anything shared on Forum still appears inside Facebook Groups.
A central feature of the app is also its AI-powered “Ask” tab that generates answers from discussions across Facebook Groups, similar to Google’s AI Overviews, pulling from Reddit content. Responses include links to the original posts so users can explore full discussions. Meta is also introducing AI tools for group administrators to assist with moderation and management.
Forum revives Meta’s earlier attempt at a dedicated Groups experience. Facebook launched a stand-alone Groups app in 2014 before shutting it down in 2017, but the renewed focus on community-driven discussions now aligns with the popularity of Reddit-style platforms and AI-assisted search. While launched without an official announcement, the app is currently only available to Apple users in the United States.
How are Forum and Instants related to Facebook and Instagram?
Forum is a stand-alone app built around Facebook Groups. Users thus have to log in to the app using their Facebook account, ensuring that their existing Groups automatically appear in the app, and anything posted on Forum is also visible inside Facebook Groups.
Meanwhile, Instants is tied directly to Instagram. It functions both as a feature inside Instagram’s DMs and as a separate companion app that uses the same Instagram account. Photos shared through the Instants app appear for friends on Instagram as well, making it an extension of Instagram focussed on quick, disappearing photo sharing.
Why did Meta launch these apps? Will they succeed?
These launches reflect a broader strategy inside Meta to rapidly release more specialised apps using AI-driven development efficiencies. Per an April report by The Wall Street Journal, CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told its employees the company believes AI tools could allow Meta to build dozens of new apps far more quickly than before.
“We want to build a lot more apps, so there’s a bunch of stuff that we’re trying to figure out, and some of this we just need to figure out over time. Chris and I have been talking about ‘all right, well can we build 50 new apps?’ Like, yeah probably. But we probably should start by doing a few before we just.. ramp up,” Zuckerberg said. Chris Cox is Meta’s chief product officer.
However, critics argue many of Meta’s newer products increasingly resemble clones of existing platforms, with Threads mirroring X, and Meta Edits competing directly with CapCut in addition to these more recent May launches.
While data for Forum is not yet available, so far, the Instants app has crossed 1 million downloads on the Google Play Store within roughly two weeks of launch.
However, Meta has continued to struggle to build sustained engagement on its newer platforms. Its text-based platform Threads, launched in July 2023, still faces difficulties attracting creators and retaining momentum. This is reflected in the platform’s user numbers. In July 2024, Zuckerberg had shared that Threads had reached 175 million active users. However, in Meta’s latest quarterly results, the company reported that Threads now has over 150 million daily active users. The app currently has over 500 million downloads on Google Play Store. By comparison, Facebook has surpassed 10 billion downloads, while Instagram has crossed 5 billion downloads.
These latest app launches come at a time when Meta reported a decline of 20 million daily active users in the first quarter of this calendar year, across its Family of Apps including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Meta attributed the drop partly to internet outages in Iran and restrictions on WhatsApp in Russia, though the lack of platform-specific figures has also fuelled concerns about broader user fatigue and platform saturation.
In addition to experimenting with new app launches, Meta is also tweaking its algorithms, especially on Instagram and Facebook, to prioritise original content and reduce low-quality reposts in an effort to improve engagement.
