Instagram today announced the debut of a new application called Layout, the company’s next standalone creation tool outside of its flagship photo-sharing application. With Layout, Instagram users will be able to quickly build collages using their mobile photos, which they can then choose to share to Instagram, Facebook, or elsewhere.
Collage-making is already a popular activity on Instagram, the company tells us. One in five monthly active users on Instagram use a collage app at least once, we’re told. Today, the app stores are filled with utilities that offer this sort of capability – including apps like Pic Stitch, Pic Collage, InstaCollage, PhotoGrid, and many others. The apps are all similar in nature – they offer a variety of blank photo grids which users can customize with their own photos, and sometimes optional text or stickers.