Facebook owns Instagram, the most popular online photo sharing network. It wants to make it easier for its billion-plus users to access their Instagram profiles easily from within the main Facebook app. To that end, the company has now made it possible for users to launch the Instagram app directly from inside the Facebook app.
Facebook is rolling out a new addition to the main navigation menu in its mobile app which will include a link to the user’s Instagram account.
The link will be positioned below the link to the user’s personal profile in the Facebook page. The link will be positioned above the links to any and all Facebook Pages that the user may manage.
When the link is clicked, the Instagram app on the user’s phone will be launched. They will be taken to their main feed inside the app. The experience is thus similar to launching the Instagram app from the phone’s home screen.
This move isn’t reciprocal so there’s isn’t a new link in the Instagram app that takes people back to their Facebook profiles by launching the Facebook app. That’s not to say it might never get that in the future.
“We’re looking at ways to help people stay in touch with their friends on Facebook and Instagram,” a Facebook spokesperson said while confirming to TechCrunch that this new feature is now live for those who use its mobile apps.