Instagram, the popular social media platform owned by the US-based tech firm Meta, has reportedly announced to simplify the user experience by changing its in-app navigation after years of confusing updates. This step is aimed to boost various products such as Instagram Shop and Reels.

The firm stated that the Compose button (the plus icon '+') will be placed front and center of the navigation bar at the bottom of the application starting in February, and the Shop tab will be entirely removed.

Reels will now be located to the right of Compose and lose their eminent spot.

Prioritizing Reels over Compose in the past sparked some controversy among app users who felt the firm was forcing them to use the expanded features at the expense of the overall usefulness.

In 2020, the platform deleted the popular Activity tab in favor of the Shop button and placed the Reels button in the center of the navigation bar. The Activity and Compose tabs were then shifted to the top right of the main screen to make them hard to navigate. Instagram had claimed that these changes would enable users to access its growing range of products.

However, there has been a spike in complaints about how far Instagram has deviated from its original intent.

Shifting buttons around won't affect how the feed itself looks, and so, not all issues will be resolved by the impending redesign, although it will at least make it easier for users to share photos, as they have done in the past.

Instagram indicated that it was thinking of going in this direction when a trial started putting the Instagram Shop option under Settings instead of eliminating it from select users' home screens last fall. Instagram stated at the time that it was merely a test with a small group of users.

Source credit: https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/09/instagram-is-removing-the-shop-tab-moving-reels-from-the-center-spot-in-design-overhaul-next-month/