Instagram Plus subscriptions are here

Meta has been talking about introducing paid subscriptions for Instagram for some time now, and the time has now come. The company is currently testing Instagram Plus subscriptions with a limited number of users, with the tier giving access to exclusive features and options.

While there is yet to be an official announcement about the launch of Instagram Plus subscriptions, they were spotted in recent days, forcing Meta to confirm that they were rolling out on a test basis.

Meta has told TechCrunch that Instagram Plus is now available in a handful of countries. The company fails to name the countries, but there are reports that subscriptions are currently being tested in Mexico, Japan and the Philippines.

What can you expect from Instagram Plus should you decide to pay for a subscription? There are various perks, most of which are related to Stories:

• Subscribers can see a record of how many people have watched Stories that they have posted
• Subscribers have the ability to stealthily view other people’s Stories. The means that it is possible to view Stories without the poster knowing about it
• There is the option of creating unlimited audience lists for Stories  which opened up a new world of audio control possibilities
• A subscriber-only Superlike animation is available as well as a means of searching the list of people who have viewed Stories rather than having to manually scroll through
• There is the ability to extend the availability of Stories for an extra 24 hours, helping to grow an audience faster and for longer

The timeline of what happens next is not clear. Meta has not given any indication of when Instagram Plus subscriptions will be made available in other parts of the world, or when it plans to shift from a testing phase to general availability. We also don’t yet know if there are plans for nay more exclusive features for subscribers.

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