Instagram adds support for fifteen second video clips

In a bid to take down Twitter and Vine, Facebook and Instagram have added a new feature on the popular mobile social network: videos. Now along with being able to upload photos, Instagram will also let you upload short videos from your phone.

After updating to the latest v4.0 of the application on iOS and Android, you will notice that there is a new button in the viewfinder mode. Tapping it brings the video recording interface. This works similar to Vine, where you press and hold the record button to record the video. You can release it as many times you want during the fifteen second span you are allotted and the app stitches the moments into one clip. As with Vine, audio is recorded as well.

Along with offering a longer duration for your clips, Instagram also lets you choose filters for your videos. Once you are done recording, you are presented with a choice of thirteen brand new filters that you can select and watch being applied on the recorded video playing above in real-time. Once you choose the filter, you get to select the frame that will appear as a still when people see your video in their stream (before it is played) and then you upload it.

Instagram also claims to have added ‘world-class image stabilization’ to the app to smooth out the camera shake. As with the photos, the videos appear in 1:1 aspect ratio.

Unlike Vine, the videos on Instagram don’t loop, so you have to tap the replay button to play them again. However, you can choose to disable auto-play of videos on Instagram, which is a good feature if you’re not interested in the videos and want to save some data, not to mention not having random videos playing every time you scroll through the timeline.

The updated Instagram v4.0 apps are now on the respective stores for iOS and Android and is necessary if you want to shoot or view these videos. You will find them in the links below.

Update: The video stabilization is only available on iOS. Also, on Android, video can only be recorded on devices running Android 4.1 and above for now but you can still view recorded videos on older devices.

App Store • Play Store