Instagram has launched a new ephemeral messaging app called Bolt.
The app, which functions in a similar way to Snapchat, allows users to quickly share self destructing photos or videos with a friend.
Like Snapchat, the user can tap on a friend’s face to instantly send a photo, or hold their finger down to send a video.
However, Bolt only allows you to send messages to one person at a time, which makes it frustrating if you’re looking to distribute photos or videos to a group of friends.
The favourites bar at the bottom of the app also only contains four friends, though you can apparently add up to 20 contacts in total.
Bolt is currently only available in New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa. ‘We’re going to other regions soon, but are starting with handful of countries to make sure we can scale the experience,’ an Instagram spokesman told The Verge.
The Instagram representative elaborated that the three countries were selected not only because of their geographical diversity, but also for their tight-knit communities.
The app’s launch follows Facebook’s recent foray into ephemeral messaging with Slingshot. Slingshot performs many of the same functions as Bolt (and even includes an identical text editor), however it encourages the user to share photos and videos with many people, not just a single contact.
Slingshot also forces you to send a photo before you can view the one you’ve just received.
Instagram’s current private sharing mechanism, Instagram Direct, allows for the permanent exchange of photos with up to 15 people at a time.
The features is regularly used by around 45 million users, however it has failed to catch on the way more standalone messaging apps have.
Some experts say that Bolt is actually an attempt to mirror Taptalk, yet another ephemeral messaging service.
