Instagram testing Stories progress bar at the bottom of the screen

In yet another A/B test, Instagram users have noticed that the progress bar for Stories has moved to the bottom of the screen.

Various posts on Reddit, Threads, and X show this change. The audio information of songs has also reportedly shifted to the bottom right. It’s now located to the left of the Like button, as you can see in the image below.

I’ve checked for this change myself, and the progress bar has moved to the bottom for one of my accounts. On an alt account, it’s still at the top, indicating that this is still an A/B test and not a global rollout.

Interestingly, I’ve only noticed this change on the iOS app. The Android app still has the progress bar at the top for both of my accounts.

Additionally, all of the reports on X appear to have been posted from users with iPhones. So the change is likely iOS-only at the moment. You can find such reports here, here, here, here, and here. (X no longer displays device source labels directly, but you can get it back with some browser extensions)

This change is not exclusive to Stories. I’ve also observed that the progress bar for the Highlights of an account (pinned to the account’s profile page) has also shifted to the bottom.

Instagram has made no official statement about this change, implying that it may reach all users only after feedback is collected.

Reactions from users to this change have been mixed. Some people find the new look “cleaner,” while others find it annoying and pointless, or random. People question the need for this rather pointless change when the app has bigger issues at hand and more important requested features.

In more Instagram news, the company seems to have removed the “Places” tab from Search entirely. You can read about that here.

Disclaimer: The Featured Image was generated with AI.

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