Instagram's getting an early start on spring cleaning by dumping its standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps, shortly after dropping support for the IGTV application.
The time-lapse and looping video platforms were quietly shuttered on March 1, according to Apptopia data provided to TechCrunch; several Twitter users then took note of their disappearing acts. Instagram did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment, but it tells TechCrunch that it "removed support for the standalone Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps to better focus our efforts on the main app."
Launched in 2014, Hyperlapse let users record up to 45 minutes of footage in a single take, which could later be accelerated to create a cinematic time-lapse effect. The app used an image stabilization algorithm to eliminate jitter and steady videos, which could be played back at speeds up to 12 times the norm.
A year later, Instagram introduced GIF-like clips with Boomerang, which made it fun to capture and watch movement on repeat. With the touch of a button, the app took a burst of photos, stitching them together to create "a high-quality mini video" that played forward and backward. By 2020, Instagram incorporated Boomerang functionality into its main app, which now supports videos at speeds up to 4x their normal rate. (Instagram's collage builder, Layout, remains available as a separate mobile app, TechCrunch notes.)
After removing the dedicated IGTV icon from the Instagram app in 2020, meanwhile, Instagram last week announced it would ditch the standalone IGTV app. As Instagram looks to compete more with TikTok, it has turned its attention to Reels, which now feature prominently in the Instagram app.