Instagram For Android Gets A Major Design Overhaul

Engineering manager praises the Android platform for its openness.

Sheldon Pinto
13:23 12th Mar, 2014

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Started off as an iOS only app, Instagram expanded its community with a grand launch on Android platform. A simple blog post said it all; stating that in just a day over a million Android users had downloaded the official android app which resembled an iOS port. More interesting was the fact that more than half of its user base was now purely Android; such was its dominance as a mobile platform.

Instagram today, finally launched a completely overhauled version of the app which has been designed for Android from the ground up. Every element of the UI has now been optimised for performance and now is on par than its iOS counterpart.

The Halo design theme with flat blacks has also been incorporated giving the app that native Android look and feel. The size of the app has reduced to half of the original while adding a lot more features for the Android herd.

In a conversation with The Verge, Instagram’s Engineering Manager Philip McAllister, did mention that it was a tough job to get the app optimised for the thousands of Android devices out there. But praised the platform for its openness, which allows it to run on everything from flagships to budget phones, making it a very vital tool for global expansion.