Instagram for Android, from development to millions of downloads

Before Instagram was snatched up by Facebook for $1 billion, there was the launch of the Android version of the photo-sharing app. While we knew the release rattled the cages of more than a few iOS users, what we didn't know was that one of them may have been Apple's own Phil Schiller. 9to5Mac reports that one of its readers reached out to Apple's senior vice president of marketing after noticing that his Instagram account, under the name @schiller, had vanished. Schiller allegedly responded to the user via a Twitter direct message, writing "It 'jumped the shark' when it went to Android."

Another 9to5Mac reader, Clayton Braasch, claims to have emailed Schiller directly, asking him to elaborate upon the statement. In a post on his blog, Braasch writes that Schiller responded — 9to5Mac says it has verified the email headers — and that while Schiller still considers Instagram a "great app and community," he enjoyed the fact that it was used by a small group of early adopters. Now that its reach has expanded, Schiller allegedly wrote, "the signal to noise ratio is different." Of course, any time an app grows as rapidly as Instagram has there will be shifts in styles and tastes in its shared content... but we don't think that fact will be keeping Facebook up at night.

Instagram's move to Android has done wonders for the photo sharing app — first it managed to amass five million new users in less than a week, and now its overall userbase has reportedly surpassed 40 million. That number comes from Rakshith Krishnappa, creator of Instagram-viewer Gramfeed, who told TechCrunch that Instagram's API now lists a total of 40,026,379 users. That's a jump of 10 million from when the app first launched on Android, which was just ten days ago. We're not sure what percentage of those new users are on Android, but given the explosive growth of Instagram on the platform, we'd imagine that the majority of them are, though the app did reach number one on the iOS charts this week. The continued growth of Instagram should be welcome news to Facebook, which recently shelled out $1 billion to acquire the company in a deal that took just two days to complete.

It's honestly pretty incredible just how fast Instagram is rolling out updates for its Android app: it's only been a week since the artistic photo filter program arrived on Google's mobile operating system, and tonight the app's seeing its third update. This one brings support for the HTC One X, which amusingly didn't work at launch, despite the company prominently using the phone in its promotional photos. In fact, Instagram says the new version works better with Tegra 3 devices in general, and also includes bug fixes for the tablet update that the company rolled just a few days back, and an issue that caused photos not to appear in the gallery. Three updates, five million downloads and $1 billion in Facebook cash... it's been a big week for Instagram.

Instagram for Android hit one million downloads in less than one day, and it seems the pace has barely slowed since then — according to Google Play, Instagram has been downloaded more than five million times in about six days. And what a six days it has been, with Mark Zuckerburg opening up Facebook's wallet to snap the photo-sharing service up for a cool $1 billion. That said, there's been a slight amount of backlash to Facebook snapping up Instagram — time will tell if that backlash affects the app's popularity. While we don't expect it'll continue to pull in nearly one million new users a day for much longer, there are still plenty of Android users out who will likely join the Instagram ranks over the coming months.

Just a few days after its launch on Android, the Instagram app is getting yet another update — that's three, if you're counting — that brings support to tablets and Wi-Fi handsets like the Galaxy S Wi-Fi. The new 1.0.3 update is available now from the Google Play Store, and while it's running at our Transformer Prime's native resolution, it looks like an scaled up version of the phone UI. You can also now install it on an SD card, and the update fixes an audio mute bug that appeared during photo capture. Unfortunately, HTC One X users are still out of luck, but the update brings Instagram to many more devices and now there's yet another way for you to look ridiculous taking pictures with a tablet.

Thanks, OhAaron

Instagram is close to receiving new funding which would set its valuation at $500 million, according to AllThingsD. Citing sources "close to the situation," the site says that Instagram will receive a $50 million round of funding reportedly be led by Sequoia Capital, which has previously invested in the likes of PayPal and YouTube. While $500 million may pale in comparison to the likes of Facebook's $100 billion valuation at the time of its initial public offering, it does seem like a pretty hefty sum for the free photo sharing app. Instagram has been experiencing some solid growth, though — the company recently released its long-awaited Android app, which was downloaded one million times in its first day of availability.

It's no secret that some people take their mobile OSes very personally — just as your parents weren't likely to buy you both a Super Nintendo and a Sega Genesis, you're probably not going to take out multiple phone contracts, and as such you may need validation that you made the right decision. This extends to the app world, too, and former iOS poster boy Instagram's jump to Android this week had a few iPhone users questioning their identity:

Buzzfeed has a piece up examining the psychology of this sentiment and how it relates to the statistical breakdown of iPhone and Android demographics. Data shows that iPhone users do tend to be relatively better-off, urban, and liberal, with Android providing more options for people seeking low-cost data plans, and this can lead to snobbery from the former group that coalesces more or less exactly with Instagram's retro-cool aesthetic. You'd think that the 30 million iOS Instagram users would be happy about the potential influx of hundreds of millions of new users on what is ostensibly a social network, but why that isn't the case for some raises some troubling questions. Make sure to check out the full piece at the source link below.

According to the numbers listed on Google's Play Store, Instagram has already hit a million downloads in its first day of availability, meaning the download was about as popular on opening day as Microsoft's Consumer Preview for Windows 8. After getting a chance to try it ourselves, we're not surprised so many people are giving the long-awaited app a shot — we just hope everything gets sorted out with HTC's One X so we can get snapping. If you're an Android user and want to see what all of the fuss is about, the app is a free download at Google Play.

Instagram for Android was probably the most anticipated app on the platform before today's earlier release, but it's having a couple of teething problems. The developers have already pushed out an update intended to improve compatibility, after reports of the photo-sharing app not working on certain devices. It hasn't entirely fixed the problem, though — while our HTC One X refused to work before the update and pushed us out to the feed whenever we tried to take a photo, applying the update results in Instagram simply displaying the above message instead.

Earlier today, Instagram finally launched its filter-heavy photo-taking and sharing app for Android, and we loaded it up on a Droid Razr running Android 2.3 for testing. If you've ever used the iOS version of Instagram, you'll feel very much at home here. In fact, I was able to log into the Android app with my iOS account, and it pulled in all my photos, friends, and activity without any problems.

The app's basic layout is the same as on iOS, with the five main sections (home, popular, shoot, news, and profile) organized in the same order. The buttons and font choices are slightly different and feel subtly tailored for Android, but that's the extent of the customization. You won't be able to access settings or search tools quickly because the Android hardware and software buttons are disabled. One nice addition to the Android app is the ability to jump directly to your profile when tapping that menu; iOS users are greeted with an unfriendly menu and list of options. Similarly, Android has a clear search button for finding new users or browsing tags, something that's not as clear on iOS. One notable design issue in iOS regrettably made the cross-platform jump; your notifications settings are frustratingly hidden in deep in the edit page for your user profile.

Just a few weeks after teasing an Android app at SXSW, Instagram just announced that it's making an Android version of its app available today in the Google Play Store. According to Instagram, over 430,000 Android users had signed up for the app on the company's waiting list a week and a half ago. Since its launch in 2010, the app has been an iOS exclusive, and today after years of waiting, it's finally up as a free public download.

The new Android will work on any "camera phone" with Android 2.2 or later, though it won't work on any Android tablets. Visually, the new app is similar to the iOS app with the basic layout (home, popular, photo taking, personal, and your settings page), but you'll see slight visual tweaks throughout that make it identifiably an Android app. All the filters and community features are the same across iOS and Android, and Instagram notes that the Android app doesn't have any additional tools or features not available on iOS. Check out our full video hands-on here.

We've known that an Android version of the incredibly successful photo-sharing app Instagram was coming soon — company co-founder Kevin Systrom even called it "better than our iPhone app" at SXSW — but we haven't known when. It appears the time is almost nigh, with Instagram unveiling a sign-up page today enticing Android users to be "first in line" for the new app. It's not clear whether this is simply a mailing list, or if some true early access is in the offing, but it's nevertheless exciting news for Android users. Instagram has been able to build a community of over 27 million registered users using only its iOS app, and all eyes will be on the company when it finally comes to Google's omnipresent mobile platform. If you'd like to get in line yourself, you can find the sign-up page here.

Today at SXSW, Instagram's Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger told Alexia Tsotsis that an Android version of the app is coming "really soon." We've heard this for several months now, but it seems that the app is finally getting close to launch. On stage, Systrom pulled out a Galaxy Nexus running a prototype of the app, and flashed it at the crowd. He said, "it's one of the most amazing Android apps you'll ever see," and continued, "in some ways, it's better than our iPhone app." The app is currently in private beta, and the team hopes "to have it out to people really soon." During the session's Q&A, he added that the Android app is incredibly fast, works great on a range of larger screens, and has sharing functionality with Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.