Instagram announced a new feature on Wednesday designed to use less data that will provide users with uninterrupted browsing experience in slow internet areas. With this opt-in mode, people across the world can view their favourite content on Instagram with reduced image loading time, by reducing the amount of data that the application uses on their mobile phones.
Designed specifically for emerging markets where data plans and internet speeds may be limited, the feature will not pre-load videos, and will not download high-resolution images, except in certain those that the user chooses. This will give people the ability to control their data usage on Instagram and increase the speed for loading images.
The company quoted Ookla’s Speedtest Global index that showed India's mobile internet speeds dipped in April, with its rank down to 121 from the earlier ranking of 108 in December 2018.
According to Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India, "Instagram gets people closer to the people and things they love. The community’s power lies in visual storytelling and sharing amazing social video moments. With this data saver feature, we’re hoping for an uninterrupted Instagram experience in slow network areas, which in turn will increase people's interactions with their friends and family."
To activate the feature on the app, the user has to go to the ‘Settings’ tab and then ‘Account,’ and then ‘Cellular Data Use’. The setting will prevent the loading of videos and high-resolution media in advance. Once the setting is enabled, users will be able to choose among three options for how Instagram will show high-resolution media including "Never," "Wi-Fi Only," and "Cellular + Wi-Fi".
The feature will be available globally for Android users and will be rolled out slowly over the course of a week.
