Instagram to Roll Out UI Changes in February, Shop Tab to Be Removed From App: All Details

Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app owned by Meta, is bringing some changes to its navigation bar. While the Shop tab will be removed from the homepage, the button to create a new post on Instagram will be placed at the center of the navigation bar at the bottom. The Reels button will also be placed on the right side of the navigation bar at the bottom. Instagram introduced shopping features in its mobile app in 2018 and added a new Shop tab to the home screen of its app in 2020.

As announced by Meta in a support article, the Shop tab will be removed from the Instagram app in February 2023. The social media giant said that a few changes will be rolled out to the navigation bar to make it easier for people to “share and connect with their friends and interests.” The changes will also include the create new post button replacing the Reels button at the center of the navigation bar at the bottom. The Reels button, meanwhile, will be moved to the right.

While the app no longer will have the Shop tab, the company shared that it will continue to invest in the shopping experience within the Instagram app for people and businesses across feeds, stories, reels, ads, and more. So, users will still be able to set up and run their businesses on Instagram. The shop feature on Instagram is only available in select countries.

Notably, Instagram introduced shopping features in 2018 and brought the Shop tab during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, along with the Reels tab. The feature was added in order to help small businesses increase their reach and connect to users via Instagram.

Last month, Instagram rolled out several new features including notes, candid stories, group profiles, collaborative collections, and more. The notes feature lets users update their friends using text and emojis and replies to notes arrive as direct messages (DMs) in the user's inbox. Instagram's candid stories feature, on the other hand, enables users to click a candid photo from the stories camera and share their real-time activity with their friends and followers.