Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Instagram testing in-app shopping feature from select retail companies

Instagram Tests Shoppable Photo Tags
Instagram doesn’t want users to have to leave the app and go into a subpar browser purchasing window to buy products they find through the social media company. As a potential solution, they are testing out a product-tagging feature where companies can sell their products directly through the social network.

The feature is being tested on iOS Instagram apps just ahead of the holiday season. The new tags work much like tagging a user would work, except now certain test companies will be able to tag their products in their images and Instagram users who happen across these tags will be able to purchase the product within the app. No browser, or third-party processing required. These product tags are initially hidden by default to all users, but Instagram users will see a button that allows them to show the tagged products.

Related Videos

instagram-shoppableThis way the current Instagram experience is not cluttered with a bunch of product tags, but if you are surfing through your Instagram feed and see a killer pair of jeans you want to buy, you can press the button to see the tag and make a purchase.

Technically, the purchase is still being made through the web but users will no longer be required to open a separate browser to complete the purchase. Users will instead see the page opened up within Instagram itself, meaning for a faster and more fluid experience. If the deal does not look as good as they were hoping for, they can simply swipe to go back to their feed without needing to switch out of a separate app.

The launch test partners of the shoppable tags are Abercombie & Fitch, BaubleBar, Coach, Hollister, JackThreads, J.Crew, Kate Spade New York, Levi’s, Lulu’s, Macy’s, Michael Kors, MVMT Watches, Tory Burch, Warby Parker, and Shopbop. More details about this new feature can be found over on the Instagram blog, here.

Editors' Recommendations

The Galaxy Watch 6 may fix one of the Galaxy Watch 5’s biggest mistakes
Man wearing a Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.

Samsung ditched its physical rotating bezel with the Galaxy Watch 5 series, and it was a change met with much dismay. But it seems like the feature is all set to return in the next iteration. The Galaxy Watch 6 Pro is said to sport a physical rotating bezel to interact with the device.

This news is according to Korean tipster SuperRoader. It is said that the next Pro smartwatch will bring back a physical rotating bezel to interact with the software. Further, the Galaxy Watch 6 Pro will also retain the focus on offering at least two-day battery life.

Read more
I created the perfect iPhone home screen — and you can too
iPhone 14 Pro with custom home screen icons and widgets

With iOS 14, Apple began to open the floodgates for software customization on the iPhone. For the first time, you could add widgets to the home screen and even change app icons to custom ones without the need for a jailbreak. And iOS 16 gave us some more customization options in the form of the lock screen, although the interface for that is su-par, to say the least.

While I see a lot of people still use a stock grid layout on their home screen, I took some time when iOS 14 first came out to customize my iOS experience. I enjoy that it’s not just a boring grid of stock icons — having custom icons and widgets really mix things up a bit and gives me a more informative home screen.

Read more
I used two of the year’s oddest tech gadgets so you don’t have to
The open Nokia 5710 XpressAudio and Huawei Watch Buds

If you’re intent on not keeping your true wireless earbuds in a normal charging case, and want to hide them inside a different gadget, now is your time. The Huawei Watch Buds is a smartwatch with a pair of true wireless headphones inside, and the Nokia 5710 XpressAudio is a 4G phone that stores a pair of earbuds in the back.

It’s a bizarre niche that I’m surprised contains two products. I’ve used them, so it's my duty to report that both are a bit silly — and I don’t want to use any more of them, thank you very much. However, for the few people out there thinking they want to buy one, this is what they're like. For everyone else, you get to marvel at two of the oddest tech products seen in a while.
Phone or smartwatch?

Read more