--- title: Instagram Introduces Zoom Feature For Photos And Videos description: Instagram just made social media creeping easier, thanks to introducing a "zoom" feature, which means the days of screenshots are over. canonical: https://time.com/4474466/instagram-zoom/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-31T17:35:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:45:03.405Z og:title: Now You Can Zoom In On Instagram Photos and Videos og:description: No more screenshots og:url: https://time.com/4474466/instagram-zoom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4a12ad33bb3f699/6988a45afb4eac75ab88ef07/instagram-zoom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Popular Smart Phone Apps Of 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Now You Can Zoom In On Instagram Photos and Videos twitter:description: No more screenshots twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4a12ad33bb3f699/6988a45afb4eac75ab88ef07/instagram-zoom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Instagram Introduces Zoom So You Can Creep on Social Media Without Getting Caught > Sponsored content. 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It covers the reporting, scoops and conversations shaping AI and the decisions facing leaders. #### Where can I get reported AI news rather than commentary? In the Loop is TIME's AI newsletter, built on original reporting and access to the people building and governing AI. It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-loop-2026q3/newsletters?i=065283a2-a524-4d1e-be9c-6479bff44b8b&cr=time-nl-loop-2026q3-v1) ## Video: This Is What the Future of Instagram Looks Like [Watch (HLS stream): This Is What the Future of Instagram Looks Like](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tIyzRJcR.m3u8) (2:55)  _Published 2015-10-01. As Instagram turns 5, the co-founder and CEO talks about where the app is headed_  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 31, 2016 5:35 PM UTC As Instagram turns 5, the co-founder and CEO talks about where the app is headed  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 31, 2016 5:35 PM UTC [Social media creepers of the world](http://time.com/money/4463460/kardashians-social-media-ads/), rejoice! [Instagram](http://time.com/4273531/instagram-algorithm/) just announced that its platform now offers a zoom functionality. This means means that unlike before, where an attempt to zoom might result in an accidental “like” and reveal that yes, you were [creeping eight months deep](http://time.com/3690036/iphone-hide-anything/) on the Instagram account of someone you just went on a Tinder date with, you can now safely examine any photo or video on the platform with a clear conscience. The zoom works sans screenshot, which is how most people responsibly creeped on Instagram before this innovative update. All you need to do is use two fingers to “pinch” the screen to zoom on any photo or video. The feature is only available on iOS for now, but an Android update is in the works. **Quiz**: [_Are You Ready for Back to School?_](http://time.com/4457305/back-to-school-quiz/) ## Transcript [00:01] You can see the world happening in real time through [00:04] instagram and I think that's true whether it's Taylor [00:07] Swift's 1989 tour which trends on instagram all the [00:10] time, or an important moment like a protest over seas, [00:14] or a march like Je suis Charlie, in Paris. [ SOUND ] [00:21] [ MUSIC ] [00:24] When we launched Instragram nearly five years ago [00:27] now, October 6th of 2010, we tapped launched [00:32] Right before midnight, thinking, ok, everyone's asleep. [00:35] But, you know, we were a little naive and we didn't [00:37] realize that midnight Pacific time actually meant that it [00:41] was morning in Europe and midday elsewhere. And, all [00:45] of a sudden, people just started rolling in in droves. [00:47] The stress of keeping servers up was actually Literally [00:51] what kept us up at night. [ MUSIC ] [00:57] When I was a junior in college, I got to take a really [01:00] awesome photography class. And my photography [01:03] teacher the day I arrived, I had this new fancy camera [01:06] with a fancy lens, and he took it away and he said no, [01:09] today you're gonna use this. And it was a Plastic Holga [01:12] camera. And it took pretty blurry photos. They were [01:15] square. And he taught me you could add chemicals to [01:18] the development bath and it would change the tone of [01:20] the actual developed photo. It was just a lesson I just [01:24] applied later when we started creating Instagram. We [01:26] had to create something that incentivized you to take [01:29] photos and filters for it. So I'd say that class really put [01:33] its mark on Instagram in the long run. I [01:38] wanted, and Mike my co- founder wanted to as well, [01:42] create something where we could share what we were [01:44] doing in the moment. Images can be an international [01:47] language. You don't have to speak English to [01:50] understand someone's photo. Really pivotal [01:54] moment for us was Hurricane Sandy. An [01:58] entire coast of the United States came together on [02:02] social media in a way that I don't think you really saw [02:05] before. At the end of the day, there's no better way to [02:08] consume what's happening in the world, other than [02:11] images. And video and I think Instagram's at the [02:14] natural nexus of both of those. The [02:18] next decade, at least on Instagram, will the be decade [02:21] where we realize the power of a collective group of [02:24] people capturing the world in real time through their [02:28] phones. I don't think we quite understand how that will [02:31] Disrupt industries. I hope, in a hundred years, [02:35] that I'll be around to see what people think about [02:39] Instagram. But I know that human nature to connect [02:43] with other people and the human need to [02:46] communicate visually and To see what's happening in [02:48] the world, will never go away. 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