Instagram is experimenting with offline functionalities

Instagram is working towards offline functionalities, testing it with users in countries that experience limited internet connectivity, something its parent Facebook, and sibling Messenger too are focusing on with Lite variants of their respective platforms.

Instagram offline is on the agenda for Facebook’s F8 developer conference, and it says that the company is "testing offline experiences that keep the Instagram experience consistent and let people consume and engage with content, even if they don’t have service." as reported by Mashable.

There is not much word regarding how the feature could work, but it could involve pre-loading content from time to time, or when the device is connected to WiFi seem the obvious possible ways it could work. But then again, Facebook may have something new up their sleeve.

Focusing on developing countries with an untapped reservoir of potential new users could help Instagram further with their astonishing growth that helped them register 600 million users in December last year, a growth of more than 100 million within six months time.

A majority of Instagram's user base are from outside the United States, and that happens to be the case with both Facebook's core platform, and Messenger, which have proven to be successful for the company with Facebook Lite amassing more than 200 million users.

One of the many nations with limited internet connectivity is India with millions of potential users, and an offline functionality for Instagram could make a lot of sense if done right, although being a photo based platform, any compromise of quality could render the entire exercise moot.

What comes out of the tests from Instagram? We are excited to find out.