Instagram is testing Templates, a new feature that will allow Reels creators to use the same format as other videos, according to Business Insider.
The feature is currently only available to a small group of creators and is in beta testing. It’s similar to TikTok’s Templates, which allows users to plug in their own photos into a preset format.
“We are always working on new ways to make Reels simpler to create. We are testing the ability for you to make a reel using an existing Template from another reel,” a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch in an email.
Developer Alessandro Paluzzi saw an iteration of this feature in reverse-engineered versions of the app’s code in January, and influencer Josephine Hill tweeted about the feature in March.
“One thing that I’ve been looking for, particularly with Instagram Reels, was something that resembles TikTok’s audio sync where the clips line up perfectly to the beat of the music,” Hill told Business Insider. She added that previously she would turn to tutorials for help in editing videos, particularly when it came to lining up videos with sound, and that the slots for adding in your own clips vary for each template.
As other companies — including Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat — try to compete with TikTok using their own version of short-form video apps, it’s hard to challenge TikTok’s popularity. Creators often opt to upload TikToks to Reels, rather than create content in Instagram, but this may be a way to change that or at least to even out the competition. Reels has introduced features similar to TikTok’s in the past, like Remixes, which launched last year. Earlier this year, TikTok expanded the feature so that users could remix any publicly uploaded video, not just Reels.
