Instagram starts testing TikTok competitor feature Reels in India

Facebook-owned Instagram said on Wednesday it would begin testing in India its Reels feature as it seeks to replace TikTok, the wildly popular short video service the government banned more than a week ago along with 58 other Chinese apps.

Reels, which comes to India after being tested in Brazil, Germany and France, offers a new way to create and share short videos on Instagram. Users can record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects and new creative tools on Reels. They can share the videos with their followers on their Instagram Feed and if they have a public account, make their 'reels' available to the wider Instagram community through the platform's Explore feature.

Reels will start rolling out to users in India from 7:30 pm on Wednesday and will have content from a diverse set of public figures and creators, such as Ammy Virk, Gippy Grewal, Komal Pandey, Arjun Kanungo, Jahnavi Dasetty aka Mahathalli, Indrani Biswas aka Wondermunna, Kusha Kapila, Radhika Bangia, RJ Abhinav and Ankush Bhaguna