Instagram developers are testing reorienting Stories into a vertical, rather than horizontal, feed. If implemented, instead of swiping left, viewers would swipe up to view the next story. The user experience would emulate the Instagram Reels or TikTok viewing experience. Snapchat also recently launched a similar feed called Spotlight.
The reorientation could lead to further changes, including the integration of stories and Reels in the Explore feed or Reels tab. If “swiping up” becomes a way to navigate to another Story, Instagram may also have to find another way for people to access links.