Instagram Reels are proving so popular amongst users, that Meta are considering creating a separate app for this feature.

Reels are the fastest growing content type across both Instagram and Facebook, and reports show that Reels are currently generating over 200 billion total views daily on Facebook and Instagram, making them Meta's fastest-growing content genre.  

The separate Reels app itself is an intriguing idea, thought that would mean a big move from Instagram itself.

And a crucial factor in this new strategy is those longer reels:

The idea is that users may stay interested in their own app longer if there is more content in a specialized Reels feed. With over half of the posts you see in your Instagram feed now coming from Meta's AI system rather than accounts you've chosen, Reels has benefited from Meta's move to AI-recommended content.

With its full-screen, scrolling display of short-form movies, a stand-alone Reels app would be a more straightforward version of TikTok. Additionally, there may be enough content to support a standalone Reels app given that Reels was recently extended to three minutes.
 

So I guess that one of the main considerations is that removing Reels from Instagram or providing users with a substitute app that only allows Reels may be too big a blow to the platform, which is probably just a risk too far for Meta to take.

 
It makes sense, after all, and as The Information points out, that would be consistent with Meta's efforts to take on TikTok directly as it fights its own deportation from the United States.

However, I don't see Meta abandoning Instagram in this way or even taking the chance of doing so by developing a different Reels app.