Instagram launches new ‘Playback’ feature to find your best moments of 2021

(AFP via Getty Images)

Instagram has launched a new “Playback” feature, intended to find the best moments of the year.

The new tool is built to help users reminisce over 2021. It is a brand-new feature to mark the end of the year that lives within Instagram stories.

It will launch today and run for a “few weeks” ahead of the new year, Instagram said.

To be invited to it, users will see a message on their feed asking them to “view your 2021 playback”. It can also be accessed by clicking on the 2021 sticker that will show when someone else shares their end of year story.

Clicking that will show a summary of stories from 2021. Users can then chose if they want to add or remove stories from that playback before sharing it publicly.

Historically, reminiscing on Instagram has been about compiling a “best nine”, using online tools to find your most-liked posts of the year. But the new feature seems partly built to recognise that people are increasingly posting to their stories rather than in the feed.