Instagram introduces Layout, a separate app for creating photo collages (coming soon to Android)

One can argue that Instagram is largely responsible for this boom of photo collage applications found in app stores like Google Play. The fact that Instagram never felt the need to build this kind of functionality into their app — or allowed users to share more than a single photo at a time — meant hardcore IG’ers had to search elsewhere.

There’s a huge business built around it too. Perform a quick search and you’re sure to find endless pages of apps. While a few get the job done, most feel like a hack job with a user interface that’s clunky, and output quality that can be lacking.

Rather than build this functionality inside Instagram (like many of their users have been clamoring for), Instagram is introducing a completely separate app. It’s called “Layout from Instagram” and it allows users to compile photo collages for easy sharing to the photos-only social network.

The app is painfully easy to use. You can either snap photos on the spot using Layout’s photo booth feature, or you can select from the most recent photos in your gallery. Photos from your gallery are grouped in separate tabs: all, faces (which only chooses photos with people in them), or recents (photos you’ve recently used in an collage).

After you’ve selected the photos you’d like to compile, you can choose the layout that suits your photos best and then adjust them accordingly. You can drag and drop to reorganize, tap a photo to bring up the handles and resize, or mirror and flip to mix things up. After you’re satisfied with the way your photos look, you can share to Instagram, Facebook, or anywhere else.

Instagram says ‘Layout from Instagram’ will be hitting Android devices in the coming months, with iOS availability right now.

Instagram’s collage making Layout app is finally available on Android

After launching their photo collage making app for iOS back in March, Instagram’s Layout is now finally available for Android. It’s a song we’ve heard before and something we’re, quite frankly, used to by now. In any case, the app basically introduces a feature Instagrammers have been clamoring for since the service first launched: the ability to create photo collages in an Instagram-friendly 1:1 aspect ratio.

Sure, this feature could have easily been built directly into Instagram itself, but for whatever reason Instagram felt the need to keep things separate. We have no problem with this as it keeps the app lighter than it otherwise would be with this functionality packed inside. As we talked about in our initial post, the app is painfully simple to use, something other collage apps could never seem to get right.

Simply choose photos from your gallery app — where they’re all conveniently organized in tabs — or snap photos on the fly using the photo booth feature. From there, you choose the layout of your new collage and can fine tune it by dragging and dropping photos around. Simple, quick, and more importantly super easy.

The best part is you don’t even need to use Instagram for sharing if you don’t have an account. Save the collage and share it Google+, Twitter, or whatever else you’re using these days. If you guys want to give Layout a spin, you can find the app for free right now on Google Play.

Layout from Instagram (Playboard) | Layout from Instagram (Play Store)