Instagram is adding a new lock screen widget to help post stories faster on iPhone

Instagram, the social media platform, recently added a new feature to its iOS app that will make clicking and posting Stories faster than before. The app now comes with a new lock screen widget that will directly open Story Camera and allow users to click a photo or capture a video and post it as a Story. Instagram is reportedly working on a slew of new features. An earlier report highlighted that the company is introducing a Friend Map feature that could be similar to how Snap Map works.

The new widget was added without much fanfare. There was no official announcement from the company or a post from Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram. Over the weekend, many users posted about the feature online. Gadgets 360 was also able to confirm the new lock screen widget and its functionality.

The widget, called Story Camera, occupies a 1×1 grid on the lock screen. The widget icon is just a circle with a plus icon in it. The description reads “Open Instagram Story Camera directly from your lock screen” and it works just like that. Once the user has added the widget, they can simply click on it to go to the story camera interface. There they can either click on an image or shoot a video immediately and post it or add an image from their gallery.

One downside to this widget is that users won’t be able to use the iPhone’s native camera app, which can capture higher quality images. However, it’s a good option for those who don’t care about image quality and want to post a story quickly. The Story Camera also allows users to take advantage of the many filters in the app. The feature was rolled out last week and should reach all users worldwide in the coming days. Users will require iOS 16 or later, as lock screen widgets are not present in older versions of the operating system.

A tipster recently claimed that Instagram is working on a feature that will allow users to see their friends’ last active location on a map. Supposed to be known as Friend Map, it looks like this feature will open up the world map where a user’s friends can be seen (if they share their location data). Users can also add notes and read notes left by other users.