Instagram’s new one tap photo and video messaging app dubbed ‘Bolt’ has been launched for iOS and Android in 3 countries – New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa.
The standalone app allows users to snap and send photos and videos as ephemeral messages to friends with just a single tap.
Bolt is a standalone app does not require any Instagram or Facebook log-in. Users can sign up for the app with a phone number and can add up to 20 friends to their favourite contacts list. To share a still picture a user needs to just tap on a friend’s face, while starting a video recording a user will have to tap and hold.
The image or video is sent the same moment the user releases his finger. The messages disappear from Instagram’s servers after 30 days. Same like rival app Snapchat, users can also add captions to images using a text editor.
Interestingly, the app also has a ‘shake to unsend’ feature which allows users to undo a sent picture by shaking the phone within the first few seconds of sending it. This action also let users to save the unsent photo to their Camera Roll.
An Instagram spokesperson said the company is planning to expand Bolt’s reach to other regions in the near future. However there’s no word yet on the app’s UK launch.
The launch comes in time when Facebook, which owns Instagram, recently rolled out Slingshot, an app that lets people share photos and videos.
New Zealand, South Africa, and Singapore users can download the app from the App Store now for free.
