How To Use Boomerang In Instagram Stories

You’re stories just got way fancier. On Thursday, Instagram announced some new additions to Instagram Stories: Boomerang, mentions, and (in some cases) links. Sweet, right? But how do you use Boomerang in Instagram Stories? It’s actually pretty straightforward — the feature is embedded right inside Stories itself.

For those of you who aren’t already familiar with it, Boomerang is an app from Instagram that lets you create short videos in which a bunch of photos play in quick succession and loop back and forth — when it’s done, a finished Boomerang looks kind of like a flip book going back and forth. It’s a cool alternative to a standard photo or video.

Now you can access Boomerang right in Instagram Stories. Start by going to Instagram and swiping right to open Stories. At the bottom of your stories camera view, you’ll see the words “Normal” and “Boomerang.” Select “Normal” to take a photo or video, and select “Boomerang” to take a Boomerang. In Boomerang mode, you’ll see that the usual white camera button has a looping infinity symbol on it. Tap that that button to start and stop recording. Your story will take a moment to process and, then, voila! You have a Boomerang. You’ll then be given the option of adding it to your story.

The new Instagram update also gives you the option of adding mentions to your stories, so that you can identify people in your photos and videos, or tag people you’d like to see your story. When someone sees a mention, he or she can tap it to go to that person’s profile. Some verified users are also getting to test out the option of adding “See More” links to their stories.

If you have Instagram, you should probably get these updates automatically (that’s what happened for me), but if you’re not seeing the Boomerang feature, check for the Instagram version 9.7 update by going to the App Store, tapping “Updates” in the lower right corner, and installing any Instagram updates you see there.

Have fun, storytellers!

Images: MaaHoo Studio/Stocksy; Courtesy of Instagram