The New Instagram Will Break Your Muscle Memory

We’ve all gotten used to Instagram’s navigation: the swipes, the taps, the shortcuts our fingers know without thinking. But that’s about to change. Instagram just hit three billion monthly active users worldwide. And with that growth, the platform is rolling out a new layout, starting in the UK, that’s designed to prioritize what’s driving their success: Reels, DMs, and recommendations.

Here’s what’s changing:

1. The Layout Update
   The Bottom Bar Gets a Shuffle The old navigation (home, search, post creation, Reels, profile) is disappearing. The new lineup: home, Reels, DMs, search/explore, and profile. 👉 Translation: the dedicated post creation button is gone. You’ll now create posts from the top left corner instead.

2. DMs Take Center Stage
   No more swiping right to open your messages. DMs are now front and center in the bottom bar, a clear sign of how much Instagram wants to push private sharing.

3. Tune Your Algorithm
   Instagram is testing a feature that lets you add or remove topics from your feed. Starting with Reels, you’ll be able to go into settings, see what Instagram thinks you’re into, and update it to reflect your real interests.

Why the Change?

Adam Mosseri put it simply: “If you look at the last few years, almost all of that growth has been driven by DMs, Reels, and recommendations.”

In other words: Instagram is doubling down on what’s working. Expect your experience to lean even more into personalized recommendations, short-form video, and one-to-one conversations.

Pophaus take: What It Means for You (and for Brands)

Get ready to retrain your thumb, the posting flow is different now. If you’re a creator or a brand, Reels + DMs are your golden tickets. With algorithm tuning, your audience has more power to opt out of irrelevant content, so relevance is everything.

Instagram isn’t just refreshing its look, it’s rewriting how people use the app. And in this new era, the question isn’t whether your content is pretty enough to stop the scroll. It’s whether it’s relevant enough to stay in the feed.