Instagram introduced a new tool Tuesday that it plans to use to compete with Snapchat: an app called Bolt.
With a single tap, users of Bolt, which was made for iOS and Android devices, can snap and send short photos and videos that only exist for a short amount of time to their friends, according to PC Magazine. However, as of now, the app can only be used in South Africa, Singapore, and New Zealand.
"We're going to other regions soon, but are starting with a handful of countries to make sure we can scale the experience," a spokesman for Instagram said. "Instagram has 65 percent of its users overseas, so an international launch, while different, is actually not all that out of order with what we do."
Users can sign up for Bolt with their phone number, and don't need an Instagram or Facebook account to do so, TechCrunch reported. The app shows all of the user's friends in a Favorites list that can be scrolled through at the bottom of the screen. Tapping the picture of a contact will send them a photo, and tapping and holding it will send them a video. Photos and videos can only be shared one at a time, and users must re-shoot them to send more.
Another feature, called "shake and resend", lets users take back photos and videos within the first few seconds of sending it by shaking their phone. The feature also lets users save the shot to the app's camera roll.
Users are also able to swipe away messages that they are done viewing, and they will disappear. Bolt, unlike Snapchat, does not give users a time limit for looking at messages, so they can minimize it, save it for later, or swipe it away.
News about Bolt first came out last week when Instagram accidentally mentioned that it was working on a new app for photo-messaging.
"It's insanely simple, wicked fast photo-messaging ... maybe too fast?" the company said.
