Instagram Testing Vertical Grids for Profile Without Requiring to Crop Media Before Uploads

Instagram is currently running a test for a new way to upload media, company head Adam Mosseri revealed on Friday. With this pilot experiment, the social media platform is allowing select users to upload photos and videos in a vertical grid format without requiring them to crop the content into a square. This development builds upon the recent changes introduced onto the platform, including an expanded limit for media uploads in the carousel, eliminating the need to split collections into multiple posts.

Vertical Grids on Instagram

In an Instagram story shared on Friday, Adam Mosseri shared details about the new experiment. “A small number of people” can now upload vertical grids instead of squares on the social media platform. Talking about the change, Mosseri highlighted that the square format was carried over from previous years when Instagram only allowed users to post content in that format. However, the “vast majority of what is uploaded to Instagram today is vertical”' he noted.

Users mostly upload content in a 4:3 aspect ratio for photos and 9:16 for videos, and “cropping it down to square is pretty brutal.” The Instagram head noted that this change may affect users who spend time making sure everything lines up before uploading the media.

“I'm hoping we can figure out a way to manage this transition”, he said.

In a statement given to The Verge, Instagram spokesperson Christine Pai said that they will be listening to the community feedback before rolling out “anything further”.

Vertical profile grids on Instagram were first spotted in 2022 by tipster Alessandro Paluzzi. At the time, the tipster suggested that the social media platform could potentially allow users to switch between a square grid and a 4:5 format, giving users more choice when posting content.

Last year, Instagram began testing the feature with only a handful of users, and its test phase now seems to be expanding. Gadgets 360 staff members were unable to verify the feature's availability. However, users on social media platforms have reported about being able to see the new profile grid format.