Instagram 3.0 Update Brings New and Improved Features

The popular app adds photo maps to enhance user experience.

Instagram have released another major update of their iOS app, adding extra functionality that focuses on enhancing user experience. Launched this week, the update adds a new feature that enables users to see their photos displayed on a map, according to where they were taken. The speed of the app is also improved, and small tweaks to the interface give users a more streamlined experience.

Developers have added a “photo maps” feature that displays your photos on a map, so you can see at a glance where you were when you took the photo. You can choose to have new photos automatically added to the map, add pictures manually, and go back through your photo library to add older pictures taken before the update. The old photo stream is still present, so now you have a choice how to view your and other users’ photos: chronologically or geographically.

You can view maps on different scales, so if you’ve taken several photos in the same neighborhood or location, you can zoom in to see where exactly you took the photo. The app’s geolocation is accurate, so you can revisit where an when you took each snap. In a blog post, Instagram explained: “Maps take you beyond recently posted photos and let you rediscover previously Instagrammed memories”

Maps are viewable on your public profile, so the new feature – as useful as it is – does raise some security questions. For those worried about privacy, Instagram have said that even when a picture has been added to the map, you can remove it at any time.

Dubbed “Instagram 3.0”, this is the app’s second major update since its Facebook acquisition back in April this year. The first involved greater integration with the social networking site, but it seems this most recent update is more focused on the user experience than on familial ties. As well as the photo map, Instagram has tinkered with a range of other features too:

• Your profile page now displays larger pictures in a grid, so you can search your photo archive with more ease.
• Social sharers will also notice that the upload function now contains social network buttons, instead of naming each site in a list.
• The caption box is larger, making it easier to write and edit captions.
• The “load more” button has been removed, and you can now scroll through pictures in a stream, rather than in batches.
• Instagram have introduced a “report” feature that enables you to flag inappropriate, abusive or spam comments, whether left on your photos or someone else’s.

The update is available now through the App Store and iTunes, and works with iOS 4.0 or higher.

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