Instagram’s Swipe-Up says Goodbye.
The swipe-up feature, which allows users to visit links by simply swiping up, has said its goodbye since August 30th, 2021. Rather than swipe-up links, the company says people use the link stickers, tappable stickers to take users to external websites.
What’s up?
According to the company, to offer more “creative control” and a more “streamlined stories creation experience”, link stickers give the users the ability to format the look of the stickers, unlike the swipe-up feature. The company began building the update earlier this summer. Started testing in June, these stickers were tested by various users, not just users who already have the swipe-up privileges.
From the devs
During the testing, Vishal Shah, former head of product, said that the stickers are a better fit with the way users were using the platform. He also stated that the target was to widely distribute the stickers to the users.
Instagram says that in the meantime, only people who had the privilege to use the swipe-up feature will be given the link sticker options, and are “still evaluating” to allow more users to use the new feature. The current update would “help us determine whether it was the right decision before expanding to more users”.
The swipe-up has been very helpful to businesses and artists from across the platform. The new feature is still up for debate, and updates will still be made, things will change.