Following a period of beta testing, Instagram on Thursday officially announced a new Type feature in Stories that lets you create text-based posts with colorful backgrounds not unlike those text-only statuses you’ve been seeing in your News Feed on Facebook.
To use this new Stories mode, just tap “Type” next to “Normal” (or “Live”) under the shutter button at the bottom of the Stories camera. You can type a short message, highlight words and phrases, choose from several large fonts and more.
The app automatically generates a plain background or gradient based on your input.
Instagram said:
Today, we’re introducing Type mode in stories, a new way to share anything that’s on your mind with creative text styles and backgrounds—no photo or video required. Now, you can turn your most random thoughts into something colorful and expressive.
They shared a short video showing Type in action.
https://vimeo.com/253524147
If you’d like, you can take your own photo to use as a background for any Type post. You can spice up the image using Instagram’s built-in creative tools like you would any other image. If you set a custom background photo, the app will apply a filter to better emphasize text.
Like everything else you share to Stories, your Type post will automatically disappear from your Story after 24 hours. Type requires Instagram version 30 for iOS or later.
They’re working on other perks, too, like Story screenshot alerts, cross-posting to WhatsApp, a Regram button, the ability to share photos and videos of any size in a Story and more.