Instagram is starting to test a new feature that is very similar to Snap Maps. This allows Instagram users to post text and video updates on a map based on where they were taken. A card with a friend who can display updates side by side. This is mainly an SNAP map and was first released in 2017. 

The difference for now seems to be that Instagram may have much more limited privacy settings. Users must select a “specific group of people” with whom they want to share their location, such as “close friends or just followers they follow,” Meta spokesperson Christine Pye told The Verge. Snapchat lets you post public posts to Snap Maps.

Pai said the Instagram feature is currently only available as a "small test" in select markets. The tool is accessible via an opt-in system and includes controls over location sharing. “As always, we designed this feature with security in mind,” Pai said. She didn’t immediately respond to follow up questions about whether fully public sharing would be offered or how long the posts would stay up for.

The maps feature was first spotted in development back in February under the name “Friend Map.” Then this week, some images of the feature in use began trickling out into public. Pai didn't say where the feature is currently being tested.

In 2012, Instagram had a photo feature that stored all of your photos on a card, but that feature was completely private  you couldn't share them with friends and only included your own photos. It was a fun way to view your photo collection, but the company shut it down four years later, citing low traffic.

If the maps feature becomes widely adopted, it will be a return to what Instagram has always done well: copying its competitors' ideas. Stories came from Snapchat, Reels came from TikTok, and  if you want to call it an Instagram feature - Threads came from Twitter. Now, back to Snapchat.