Instagram’s New Features Make Connecting with Friends Easier Than Ever

Instagram is rolling out exciting updates designed to bring you closer to your friends through shared content and experiences. Announced today, these features—reposts, the Instagram map, and a dedicated Friends tab in Reels—make it easier to share, discover, and connect. Whether you’re sharing a viral reel, exploring local hotspots, or sparking conversations about trending content, Instagram’s latest tools are here to enhance your social experience.

Share the Fun with Reposts

Ever stumbled across a reel or post you can’t wait to share with your friends? Instagram’s new repost feature makes it simple. You can now repost public reels and feed posts directly to your followers’ feeds, with a dedicated tab on your profile to revisit your shared content.

What’s great for creators? Reposts credit the original poster, potentially exposing their content to new audiences. If someone reposts your reel, it might appear in their followers’ feeds, even if those users don’t follow you. To repost, just tap the repost icon and add a personal note via the thought bubble for extra flair.

This feature feels like a natural extension of Instagram’s sharing culture, making it effortless to spread the content you love while giving creators more visibility.

Explore and Connect with the Instagram Map

The new Instagram map is a game-changer for staying in touch with friends’ adventures. You can opt in to share your last active location with selected friends—think followers you follow back, Close Friends, or a custom list. Worried about privacy? Location sharing is off by default, and you can toggle it off anytime or exclude specific people or places.

Parents with teen supervision enabled get extra peace of mind. They’ll receive notifications if their teen activates location sharing and can manage who their teen shares with.

Even without sharing your location, the map lets you explore location-tagged content like reels, posts, and stories from friends or creators. Planning a weekend outing? Check out a local creator’s reel for inspiration or see where your friends have been. The map lives at the top of your DM inbox and is rolling out in the US first, with global access coming soon.

Discover What Your Friends Love with the Friends Tab

The new Friends tab in Reels is all about sparking conversations. This tab shows public content your friends have liked, commented on, created, or reposted, plus recommendations from Blends you’ve started. It’s a fun way to keep up with what’s trending among your crew and dive into discussions about shared interests.

You can access the Friends tab at the top of Reels and switch back to the main Reels feed anytime. Instagram also offers controls to customize your experience, like hiding your own likes or muting activity from specific accounts. Initially rolled out earlier this year, the Friends tab is now going global, making it easier to stay in the loop with your closest connections.