Instagram Beta for Android Gets iPhone-like 3D Touch Feature

By utilizing 3D Touch, users can preview images in their searches by simply pressing harder on the screen.

In an update made available to Instagram‘s beta users, a new feature has been baked in, which may have you thinking you are using an iPhone.

In a new update released today, Instagram replicated their own 3D Touch feature from iOS app on to the Android version through some software magic (3D Touch usually requires some specific hardware which is missing in Android devices).

Instagram actually realized that they didn’t actually need pressure-sensitivity to make this feature work on an Android phone. Now Android users can long press on an image thumbnail to see it bigger.

Instagram has been adding cool features often, like multi-account support, which was subsequently removed nearly immediately after it debuted. When you tap and hold on any of these photos or videos, you’ll be be able to get a glimpse at the content and quickly move your finger to the heart, comment, or share buttons. The updated app is available via the Google Play Store (v. 7.13.0) or you can download the APK from the mirror.

The feature was pretty much a huge win for iPhone, if you are looking for this sort of thing, since there aren’t a lot of Android devices that have this option. We’ll let you know if there is some type of wider rollout announced.