Instagram is in the midst of experimenting with what could turn out to be one of the most significant alterations to its user interface in recent years: the possibility of making Reels, its short-form video hub, the central home tab of the application. This initiative is currently being tested on an opt-in basis in India, where a select group of users can experience Reels and direct messages positioned as the first two primary navigation tabs. According to Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, this decision is deeply rooted in data-driven observations. Over the past several years, both Reels and DMs have emerged as the most powerful engines of growth for the platform, driving greater user engagement and keeping people on the app longer, which explains why the company is now exploring this redesign in more deliberate ways.
In a video posted by Mosseri himself, viewers are given a preview of how this experimental home tab would appear in practice. At first glance, the upper portion of the redesigned tab retains the familiar horizontal carousel of Stories that users are accustomed to checking at the top of their feeds. However, as soon as the user begins to scroll downward, the visualization undergoes a dramatic transformation: the interface seamlessly morphs into a display that closely mirrors the current Reels environment, one where video content dominates the entire screen space. Mosseri assured audiences that photos uploaded by accounts people follow will not be excluded from this new experience, though the demonstration video notably refrained from illustrating precisely how still images would be incorporated into this video-centric design.
It is also worth noting that Instagram has not arrived at this point without prior experimentation. The company has already hinted at shifting focus toward video-first browsing through its recently launched iPad application. That version of Instagram uniquely directs users straight into Reels when opening the app, signaling the platform’s intention to prioritize video discovery, especially on larger displays. In that announcement, Meta explained that this design choice was meant to reflect modern behavior patterns on bigger screens, which users now often associate with passive consumption and immersive entertainment experiences. Given these precedents, this latest test strongly indicates that Instagram is considering expanding Reels’ prominence beyond the tablet experience and into the mainstream mobile app environment.
Collectively, these changes underscore Meta’s broader ambition of transforming Instagram into a space where short-form video plays an increasingly dominant role, not only as a primary entertainment medium but also as a critical driver of social interaction and platform growth.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/news/790255/instagram-test-reels-home-tab
