Ever since it crashed onto the social scene in 2010 to a blur of flashes and hashtags, Instagram has been square.
That's it's thing - a format borrowed from the vintage instant cameras its filters are mimicking. Logo to crops, it's a retro, square, photo app.
But not any more.
Instagram has announced that users will now be able to publish filtered images and videos in portrait or landscape.
"Square format has been and always will be part of who we are. That said, the visual story you’re trying to tell should always come first, and we want to make it simple and fun for you to share moments just the way you want to," explains the Instagram blog post. "It turns out that nearly one in five photos or videos people post aren’t in the square format, and we know that it hasn’t been easy to share this type of content on Instagram: friends get cut out of group shots, the subject of your video feels cramped and you can’t capture the Golden Gate Bridge from end to end.
"Now, when choosing a photo or video, you can tap the format icon to adjust the orientation to portrait or landscape instead of square."
The bad news? The inevitable rage when your friend starts posting portrait photos that would have been much better in a landscape orientation.
Pedant.
