Instagram pulls Boomerang and Hyperlapse from app stores

Instagram isn’t just waving goodbye to its IGTV app. As TechCrunchreports, social media consultant Matt Navarra and various Twitter users (including KenSchillinger and WFBrother) have all noticed that Instagram’s dedicated Boomerang and Hyperlapse apps have disappeared from the Apple and Google app stores. Boomerang was still available for Android on Google Play through a direct link as of this writing, but searches no longer produce results.

In a statement to Engadget, parent brand Meta said Instagram pulled the software to “better focus [its] efforts on the main app.” Apptopia data suggests Instagram pulled Boomerang and Hyperlapse from app stores after March 1st. Boomerang (the only one of the two available on both Android and iOS) was still relatively popular, according to Apptopia, with an average of 26,000 downloads per day before it left. Layout is still available if you want to create collages.

The removal isn’t exactly surprising. The launches of Hyperlapse in 2014 and Boomerang in 2015 offered stabilized timelapse and looping videos at a time when Instagram tried to keep its app relatively lean, particularly given the lesser performance of some phones at the time. In 2022, however, Instagram is content …read more