Instagram announced today that its app for Windows Phone will be launching today in the Windows Phone Store, as teased last month. However, the app doesn’t currently have everything that users have come to expect from the app on other platforms. For example, it will be launching without the ability to shoot or upload video from the app.
In addition, users can’t take pictures from directly inside the Instagram app for Windows Phone. According to the Verge, users instead press a button that takes them to the Windows Phone camera, and then return automatically to the app with the resulting photo to apply filters and upload.
“We wanted to make Instagram available to people with Windows Phones as quickly as possible, so we focused on creating an awesome experience with Instagram’s core features. We’re not finished, and our team will continue developing the Windows Phone app to keep releasing features and bringing you the best Instagram possible,” the company said in its blog post announcing the app.
The hurry seems hardly coincidental. As we close in on holiday shopping season, picking up a new Windows Phone device as a gift becomes a harder sell if it can’t use one of the most popular social platforms. The Facebook-owned photo sharing app was one of the key apps missing from Microsoft’s mobile OS, and while Windows Phone users have been having some success with non-official Instagram applications, they’ve found that their ability to use the service could be shut down at any moment.
But now, Windows Phone users have an official connection to Instagram’s network of more than 150 million users, and the presence of Vine on Windows Phone means that the company has a strong incentive to bring video capabilities to its app in the near future.
The app is available for download from the Windows Phone Store.
