With more than 2 billion users, Instagram has emerged as the go-to alternative to traditional social media as well as photo and video sharing websites like Facebook, Imgur and others.
However, some don’t like Instagram’s show-off culture, short form videos, and the toxicity on the platform. A bunch of users also say that Meta has bloated the app with several new features, making it more complex to use. If you are tired of mind numbingly scrolling endless Reels, Stories or posts on Instagram and are looking for some fresh breath of air, here are 5 worthy alternatives that offer a more relaxed experience.
Pixelfed users can create a new account of login using their Mastodon credentials. (Image Source: Google Play Store)
Pixelfed
Pixelfed is what Instagram was almost a decade ago before being taken over by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. The app has a simple user interface mimicking Instagram with a photo feed, but you don’t see any Stories, videos, algorithmic content, Reels or even videos.
This is a federated app, meaning it uses the same technology as the de-centralised social media network Mastodon. While it does have an option to start afresh, if you are feeling lazy, just sign in with your Mastodon account and you are good to go.
However, you will be missing out on some photo editing features Instagram has to offer and since the platform is pretty new, it is nowhere close to Meta’s social media app in terms of userbase. Available on both Android and iOS, the app is pretty bare bones and may have some bugs at this point as it’s still new, but the website is pretty stable.
In an age where most of us are addicted to Meta’s algorithmic random content, Pixelfed has emerged as a fresh breath of air. If you want an app that serves as nothing more but a platform for sharing photos, make sure to give this a try.
Pinksky is a third party photo sharing app for Bluesky. (Image Source: Pinksky)
Pinksky
Instagram surely has tons of photos, but some of us including me like images shared on Threads and Bluesky. If you are in the same boat, Pinksky may be the one for you. Similar to Threads and Bluesky, Pinksky is an instagram alternative based on the ATProtocol network, which means you can import your entire feed from Bluesky.
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Unlike most social media platforms that require you to sign up, you can sign in using your Bluesky credentials, and the app will filter out all content except photos and videos. And while Bluesky is yet to add a Stories feature, Pinksky does let you share disappearing photos and videos. However, these posts will still be visible on your Bluesky account, so keep that in mind.
Also, Pinksky lets you create your custom feed, so you only see the content you want to and not some recommendations from random people on the internet. It is available on Android and iOS as well as the web.
Tumblr is one of the oldest blogging/social media platform on the internet. (Image SourceL: Tumblr)
Tumblr
You may have never heard of or forgotten Tumblr, but the blogging/social media website is still around. Launched in 2007, the platform lets you create a blog where you can post text based content, share photos, memes, GIFs and videos.
Tumblr also lets you customise the look of the website with an extensive collection of themes, fonts, colours and backgrounds. And while Tumblr has no ‘Stories’, it does let users add tags like Instagram.
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Also, unlike Instagram, people on Tumblr are pretty welcoming and supportive. If you are looking for a platform that encourages creativity, has a supportive community, and don’t want to do anything with Meta, Tumblr is a great place to start posting, but the platform has no first party app for mobile devices. Another thing is that pictures you upload on Tumblr will be used by the company to train AI, but you can opt out of that.
