Instagram tests text-only Stories feature in Europe

Instagram has begun testing a text-only Stories feature in Europe. Until now, Stories on the photo-centric social network has been all about visuals. Users can choose various fonts and backgrounds for text.

The test already started in Japan last month, but now The Next Web and WABetaInfo also got to see the test themselves. The feature can be found at the bottom of the Stories camera, near Boomerang and Rewind.

The text status is very reminiscent of that in WhatsApp. WhatsApp and Instagram are both owned by Facebook and the US company often adds the same kind of features to its various social networks. This happened earlier with the photo version of Stories, which is very similar to a similar feature from competitor Snapchat.

After typing text, users can customize Stories status with different backgrounds and fonts. Facebook has not said if or when it will add text status to Instagram Stories.

In addition, WABetaInfo reports that Instagram will let users know if other users take screenshots of their Stories. That hasn’t happened so far. Stories automatically disappear after 24 hours, making screenshots for people viewing Stories the only way to keep the footage longer.