"They wanna be TikTok so bad" — Internet reacts to Instagram testing rectangle profile grids instead of the traditional square

Instagram has been testing out rectangular profile grids instead of the traditional square grids, and users are going ballistic. Some users have been subjected to this testing, though signs that a rectangular profile grid may be imminent date back to 2022, The Verge has reported.

Nonetheless, with the potentially imminent ban on TikTok, users are calling out Instagram for swooping in and trying to make the app look like its competitor. Here's what one user said in jest, for example:

"they wanna be tiktok so bad."

Others had their own opinions:

"I WAS PLANNING MY LAYOUT IN SQUARES TO BE PERFECTLY SYMMETRICAL FOR NOTHING??????" one user asked.

"One thing about IG - it will do updates for things u didnt ask for," another pointed out.

"Ugh, Instagram's about to mess with our perfectly curated grids.Rectangles are gonna totally wreck years of aesthetic planning. Who asked for this? Creators are gonna lose their minds trying to rebuild their visual storytelling," someone else asserted.

"I swear TikTok is the greatest social app ever because the way every other app started copying every thing they do and now banning it because it’s so good it’s making them lost money…smh," yet another echoed.

Even more chimed in:

"doing everything but a check who unfollowed me section," one user said, sarcastically.

"it’s like they want me to delete the app," another posited.

"and then what ? triangle posts , square eiffel tower," someone quipped.

"Adding/changing the most unnecessary sh*t but won’t give us anything we ask for.. sigh," yet another echoed.

Seemingly everyone online found the new change unnecessary, with many pointing out that the app could work on better features instead.

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Here's everything we know about a potential change in Instagram's profile grids:

Head of the Meta-owned platform, Adam Mosseri, uploaded a story on the same confirming the news that the app is testing out a vertical grid instead of the long-standing squares:

“The vast majority of what is uploaded to Instagram today is vertical. It’s either 4 by 3 in a photo or 9 by 16 in a video, and cropping it down to square is pretty brutal. So, I’m hoping we can figure out a way to manage this transition.”

He also added that “squares are from way back in the day when you can only upload square photos to Instagram,” though the app eliminated this feature way back in 2015. He acknowledged that this new change might be annoying for users who have spent a lot of time “curating and making sure everything lines up," but noted that he "would really like to do better by the content today.”

“We’re testing a vertical profile grid with a small number of people,” Instagram spokesperson Christine Pai said in a statement to The Verge. “This is a limited test, and we’ll be listening to feedback from the community before rolling anything out further.”

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While the current profile grid is still square for most users, this new change might be embraced by some content creators, as it eliminates the need to crop content before hitting upload.