Update:yep.
Looking into an app’s code can offer hints of not-yet-launched features that are soon to come, and a peek into Instagram’s Android Application Package suggests the photo-sharing platform could potentially gain a new mode for the Stories camera. Decompiling the code revealed a file for a portrait shutter icon alongside existing camera modes like live and reverse,according to TechCrunch. Instagram did not comment on the code findings.
Inside the Instagram APK, there’s a new image file for a portrait shutter icon, or the graphic that’s displayed over the shutter button for each of Instagram’s different camera modes. The image is named for a portrait shutter, suggesting Instagram is considering the possibility of bringing a portrait mode to the camera.
The existence of a file inside of a code doesn’t guarantee that the feature will see a public rollout, since the tool would likely still need to go through testing. The portrait mode potential leak comes shortly after digging into the same APK code suggests apotential voice and video calling tool.
With only the name “portrait” inside the icon’s file to go on, there’s little to detail what, exactly, a portrait mode inside the Instagram camera would entail. Dual camera smartphones have a portrait mode that allows for depth effects such as blurring the background, a key part ofhow to shoot good portraits, so the name of the new mode suggests something similar. It’s also unclear if the feature would require a dual lens smartphone or if the tool would use artificial intelligence to detect and blur the background — similar to how Google’s YouTube Stories app is testing a background replacement tool that doesn’t require a depth map. As TechCrunch points out, however, the icon for the Rewind mode isn’t labeled Rewind, so if the feature launches, it could also launch under a different name.
Instagram has added several new modes inside the app’s Stories camera mode over the past few months, includinga Type mode,Superzoomand aStop-motion mode, joining the more long-standing options like Boomerang and Live. The changes encourage users to use the in-app camera as Instagram competes with Snapchat’s in-app camera and a slew of augmented reality filters.
