Instagram is Looking at Scrapping Square Profile Grids for Vertical

Back when Instagram started, it was famed for its square photos. But times have changed as the photo-sharing platform has embraced Reels more and more. Nowadays, most users upload imagery in portrait orientation.

The platform is currently testing rectangular profile grids for a small number of users with Instagram head Adam Mosseri taking to his Stories last Friday to explain the thinking behind the change.

“We’re actually testing a vertical grid, for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, for your profile, instead of squares,” says Mosseri per The Verge.

“Now, squares are from way back in the day when you can only upload square photos to Instagram. I know this can be annoying for some of you who really spent a lot of time curating and making sure everything lines up, but I would really like to do better by the content today.

“The vast majority of what is uploaded to Instagram today is vertical. It’s either 4 by 3 in a photo or 9 by 16 in a video, and cropping it down to square is pretty brutal. So, I’m hoping we can figure out a way to manage this transition.”

Frequent Instagram users will be aware that vertical profile grids are already the standard on a user’s Reels tab. Given Instagram’s massive pivot toward short form video in recent years, it seems likely the Meta-owned social media will implement this change.

“We’re testing a vertical profile grid with a small number of people,” Instagram spokesperson Christine Pai tells The Verge.

“This is a limited test, and we’ll be listening to feedback from the community before rolling anything out further.”

As alluded to by Mosseri, for photographers who have spent a long time carefully curating their Instagram profile so it is a coherent art piece in its own right — this change could be a nightmare.

It is not all bad news for photographers: Earlier this month, Instagram announced that is expanding the number of photos and videos that can be added to a single grid post.