Instagram has dropped the IGTV button, but that doesn’t mean you cannot use it anymore

The Facebook-owned app cited lack of use as the reason to remove it and said that not enough people were “interacting” with it.

You will no longer be seeing the IGTV shortcut button on the top right corner of the Instagram home screen as the company has decided to remove it. (REUTERS)

You will no longer be seeing the IGTV shortcut button on the top right corner of the Instagram home screen as the company has decided to remove it. The Facebook-owned app cited lack of use as the reason to remove it and said that not enough people were "interacting" with it.

IGTV was launched in 2018 to compete with the likes of YouTube. With IGTV, Instagram users could now upload videos that were longer than 60 seconds. However, TikTok came along and ruined that.

According to the IANS report, "almost seven million of Instagram's one billion-plus users have downloaded its standalone IGTV app in the 18 months since launch". On the other hand, TikTok received 1.15 billion downloads in the same period since IGTV launched, TechCrunch reported.

"Very few are clicking into the IGTV icon in the top right corner of the home screen in the Instagram app... We always aim to keep Instagram as simple as possible, so we're removing this icon based on these learnings and feedback from our community," said a Facebook spokesperson.

However, this does not mean that you cannot use the IGTV option anymore when you are uploading a video on your feed that is longer than 60 seconds.

As it used to be earlier, when you are uploading a longer video, you will get the prompt for whether you want to share it as a short video or as a long video. If you pick long video then the full-length video will be shared on IGTV and a preview of it (60 seconds) will be shared on your feed. When anyone watches the video on your feed they will have the option of watching the whole video on IGTV once 60 seconds is up.

Alternately, the IGTV button will still show up on the search page and you can browse through longer videos there.