Instagram's History: Full Evolution of Instagram Timeline (2026)
In this article, you’ll get a complete history of Instagram and the important events throughout the company’s history.
You’ll also get a rare look at what the original Instagram website and blog looked like back when it originally launched in 2010.
Here’s what Instagram’s about page looked like in 2010:
Here’s what Instagram’s website home page looked like in 2010:
Here’s Instagram’s first public blog post
(posted to Instagram.com in 2011):
History Of Instagram:
Instagram Timeline From 2010 to 2026
Instagram founders:
Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger
When was Instagram founded?
October 6, 2010
(Instagram was originally only available for iPhone until 2012)
December 12, 2010
Instagram hits 1 million users
January 2011
Instagram introduces hashtags on the platform
April 3, 2012
Instagram launches on Android
April 9, 2012
Facebook announces they are buying Instagram for 1 billion dollars
May 18, 2012
Facebook goes public at $42 a share
February 2013
Instagram hits 100 million monthly active users
September 2015
Instagram ads launch globally
March 15, 2016
Instagram announces the feed is changing from chronological to algorithmic
May 31, 2016
Instagram launches IG business pages
August 2, 2016
Instagram announces ‘Stories’
February 22, 2017
Instagram launches carousel posts allowing multiple photos or videos in a single post
Jun 20, 2018
Instagram announces it has 1 billion users
June 20, 2018
Instagram launches IGTV and its standalone app
May 19, 2020
Instagram announces ‘shops’ on IG
August 5, 2020
Instagram Reels launch in over 50 countries worldwide
July 27, 2021
Instagram officially announces Instagram Reels can be up to 60 seconds long (to further compete with TikTok)
September 27, 2021
Instagram pauses “Instagram Kids,” a planned app for 10 to 12 year olds, after a Wall Street Journal series reported on internal research in which 32% of teen girls who felt bad about their bodies said Instagram made them feel worse
October 5, 2021
Instagram retires the IGTV brand and folds longer videos into a single Instagram Video format
October 28, 2021
Facebook renames its parent company Meta. The Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp apps keep their names
2022
March 23, 2022
Chronological feeds come back as two options, Following and Favorites, though neither can be set as the default
July 28, 2022
After a viral “Make Instagram Instagram again” post shared by Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, Instagram pauses its full-screen, TikTok-style feed test and temporarily cuts back recommended posts
October 2022
Meta says Instagram has passed 2 billion monthly active users (CNBC first reported the milestone in December 2021)
2023
February 19, 2023
Meta announces Meta Verified, a paid blue badge for Instagram and Facebook ($11.99 a month on the web, $14.99 on iOS), starting with a test in Australia and New Zealand
July 5, 2023
Meta launches Threads, a text-based app you sign into with your Instagram account. It passes 100 million sign-ups in five days
October 24, 2023
42 states take legal action against Meta, accusing it of designing Instagram and Facebook features that addict children (33 of them file together in federal court in California)
2024
September 17, 2024
Instagram launches Teen Accounts: everyone under 18 is moved into private accounts with stricter default settings, and teens under 16 need a parent’s permission to loosen them
2025
January 18, 2025
Reels can now be up to 3 minutes long (up from 90 seconds), and Instagram starts switching profile grids from squares to taller rectangles
That night, as TikTok briefly goes dark in the U.S., Instagram announces Edits, a video editing app built to rival CapCut
April 2025
The FTC’s antitrust trial against Meta begins in Washington, D.C. The agency argues Meta bought Instagram and WhatsApp to neutralize competitors and wants both sold off
April 22, 2025
Edits launches for free on iOS and Android
August 6, 2025
Instagram adds reposts, a Friends tab in Reels, and Instagram Map, a location-sharing map that launches in the U.S. first
September 2025
Instagram finally releases a native iPad app, which opens to Reels by default
September 24, 2025
Mark Zuckerberg announces Instagram has 3 billion monthly active users, joining Facebook and WhatsApp at that size
October 14, 2025
Teen Accounts now default to content guided by 13+ movie ratings, with a stricter Limited Content setting parents can switch on. The Motion Picture Association objected to Meta’s “PG-13” branding, and Meta later agreed to cut back those references
November 18, 2025
Judge James Boasberg rules the FTC failed to prove Meta holds a monopoly today, so Meta keeps Instagram and WhatsApp
December 10, 2025
Australia’s ban on social media accounts for under-16s takes effect. Meta began removing under-16 users from Instagram, Facebook and Threads on December 4 (about 350,000 Australian Instagram users were 13 to 15)
2026
January 20, 2026
The FTC appeals Judge Boasberg’s ruling, keeping alive its bid to force Meta to sell Instagram and WhatsApp
March 24, 2026
A New Mexico jury finds Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms, and orders a $375 million civil penalty
March 25, 2026
In the first social media addiction trial to reach a verdict, a Los Angeles jury finds Meta and YouTube liable for harming a 20-year-old woman who started using Instagram at age 9. The jury awards $6 million, 70% of it owed by Meta, and both companies have appealed
June 2, 2026
Meta starts expanding the 13+ teen content settings globally across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, after first taking them beyond the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia in April
June 4, 2026
Instagram Plus rolls out globally: an optional $3.99-a-month subscription (U.S. price) with 11 extra features, such as pushing your Story to the front of followers’ trays, 48-hour Stories, extra audience lists, and viewing Stories anonymously. It does not remove ads
August 26, 2026
One week into a federal trial in Oakland, Meta agrees to pay up to $16.7 billion and add new child-safety measures to Facebook and Instagram to settle youth-harm claims from state attorneys general. Adam Mosseri had taken the stand the day before