Letting users pause a Reels video. Hard to believe this wasn't case all along.
This is user hostile:
"Previously, users have only been able to pause videos on Instagram Reels by tapping and holding on their screen."
TheAceOfHearts 9 hours ago [-]
In TikTok holding the screen causes it to play at 2x, they should probably reuse the same gesture to make user adoption smoother.
But still... A feature announcement for a fucking pause button is deranged.
niek_pas 9 hours ago [-]
With enough 200k/year engineers, perhaps one day Instagram will build a video player _almost_ as good as Youtube was in 2006.
unsnap_biceps 9 hours ago [-]
Nah, being unable to pause just means they get way more minutes of viewing when people put down their phone to do something. It just sits there and plays, earning that sweet sweet ad money.
Elfener 8 hours ago [-]
I've always found this weird - when I put my phone down I hit the power button to turn the screen off/lock it.
joseda-hg 3 hours ago [-]
This might not always stop playback, for example with YT Premium, I think it also applies to shorts, maybe only when in PiP mode? I can't recall, but I'm pretty sure, I've encountered it, somewhat inconsistently
jeisc 8 hours ago [-]
the goal is to force behavior onto users like Pavlov's dogs using B. F. Skinner Psychology
pjc50 7 hours ago [-]
I'd always assumed these anti-features were intentional. For example, making it hard to pause reels causes them to roll over to the advert reel which is inserted between every two reels.
edarchis 8 hours ago [-]
Pause and rewind have been features since the phonograph. Vinyl and tapes could do it. Youtube did it (yet somehow they botched it for YT Shorts). Tiktok did it. Now Instagram feels like they invented something...
netsharc 4 hours ago [-]
On the web YouTube, one can change the /shorts/ in the URL to /v/ to get the standard and not the "This is a TikTok-clone" interface.
On Android one can install NewPipe and have a better experience (then again, yesterday NewPipe failed to load any video for me, I guess YouTube updated their obfuscation code).
pbmonster 5 hours ago [-]
Par for the course, really. Still can't zoom into images on Instagram, can you?
The one and only supported image resolution is also lower than any of the screens I use.
The app is really hard to believe from a technical perspective, in general.
pjc50 3 hours ago [-]
You can pinch-zoom on mobile, but only while you're holding it down. I suspect again this is intentional and the two go together - they don't want you zooming in on limited resolution images, that'll look even worse.
kevincox 2 hours ago [-]
This is a relatively recent feature. And yes, it is almost certainly because the images are awful quality before zooming in, so they want to limit how obvious this is.
nicce 5 hours ago [-]
You can’t fast-forward/scroll any video in Instagram and it is by design. To get users stay on the platform as long as possible. And it works.
lm28469 5 hours ago [-]
hm? Just drag the white bar at the bottom of the video
netsharc 4 hours ago [-]
Curiously some Reels videos don't have this white bar. Nor do "Story" (i.e. the "we stole this from Snapchat" ephemeral content) videos.
Also it's possible to add videos as a "post" (the OG data model), and they're not reels, and these don't seem to have scrolling capability.
Gotta love the "Let's just throw a bunch of crap onto this thing" architectural design. I remember when Reels (the part that is full of reposted TikTok videos and girls in skimpy clothes advertising their OnlyFans) was called IGTV...
joseda-hg 3 hours ago [-]
I'm pretty sure this is length based, other products don't let you scrub on shorts that are too short
nickthegreek 3 hours ago [-]
infinitely worse than tiktoks design.
bsnnkv 5 hours ago [-]
Trying to use Reels after experiencing the (superior) UX of TikTok was hard enough, but trying to use Reels after experiencing the UX of XHS is pretty much impossible for me.
noobcoder 8 minutes ago [-]
What's XHS?
Elfener 9 hours ago [-]
I have an userscript installed that turns the instagram video player into a regular html one, so in case I end up clicking an instagram link, I don't go insane while trying to watch something.
Traubenfuchs 3 hours ago [-]
I have that for youtube shorts.
Seeing them turned into regular videos shows how ridiculously stupid their format and user experience is.
scotty79 7 hours ago [-]
Same. Mine also Auto-Pauses video at the start.
TheCapeGreek 6 hours ago [-]
Am I missing something or hallucinating? Pretty sure I've always been able to pause reels on desktop and mobile. Instagram Lite lacked this functionality.
Lack of a progress bar you can skip through is what's been missing compared to TikTok.
Or was this just not a thing for US users specifically?
SpaghettiCthulu 2 hours ago [-]
I've only been able to pause by tapping and holding on the screen. And that only pauses while you keep holding. Also, for me, most reels have a progress bar you can drag around at the bottom, but there are some that just don't for whatever reason.
RamblingCTO 3 hours ago [-]
I also had this some time ago and then it was gone. Maybe just A/B testing?
dixie_land 56 minutes ago [-]
Yup, noticed I had it come n go over last year
EverForever 3 hours ago [-]
Can someone explain to me why Meta or whoever doesn't just copy TikTok 1to1 with a new name? If TikTok really stops running in the usa, they would have an alternative product instead of Instagram reels and YouTube shorts, both of which obviously can't catch on.
moshun 3 hours ago [-]
Meta has basically copied TikTok as an 1:1 app at least twice, the most recent being Lasso. The problem most of these many companies trying to emulate TikTok’s success is that the UI/UX and content delivery aren’t the secret sauce. It’s a near bulletproof algorithm that needs comparatively little time to lock in your preferences. Add in the fact that TikTok really doesn’t encourage or reward following creators, it makes for a natural conflict with some of Meta’s base models for operation that they have trouble addressing.
That’s why some suggest that the recent regulatory assaults, cozying up to would be dictators and forced changing of ownership to American corporations is just manufactured corporate raiding by competitors that can’t keep up.
TheChaplain 8 hours ago [-]
I've almost stopped using Instagram, these days I get ads that block scrolling on pictures or stories, it's simply not enjoyable anymore.
Rendered at 17:40:07 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
This is user hostile:
"Previously, users have only been able to pause videos on Instagram Reels by tapping and holding on their screen."
But still... A feature announcement for a fucking pause button is deranged.
On Android one can install NewPipe and have a better experience (then again, yesterday NewPipe failed to load any video for me, I guess YouTube updated their obfuscation code).
The one and only supported image resolution is also lower than any of the screens I use.
The app is really hard to believe from a technical perspective, in general.
Also it's possible to add videos as a "post" (the OG data model), and they're not reels, and these don't seem to have scrolling capability.
Gotta love the "Let's just throw a bunch of crap onto this thing" architectural design. I remember when Reels (the part that is full of reposted TikTok videos and girls in skimpy clothes advertising their OnlyFans) was called IGTV...
Seeing them turned into regular videos shows how ridiculously stupid their format and user experience is.
Lack of a progress bar you can skip through is what's been missing compared to TikTok.
Or was this just not a thing for US users specifically?
That’s why some suggest that the recent regulatory assaults, cozying up to would be dictators and forced changing of ownership to American corporations is just manufactured corporate raiding by competitors that can’t keep up.