Some Instagram users were surprised and baffled when a link to a “one tap photo messaging app” called Bolt suddenly appeared on their feed last night? Did we miss a big announcement from the powers that be about another new photo sharing app? Or was it another one of their “accidental leaks” to test out new features or apps, which Facebook is notorious for doing so?
Several of the users who saw the banner app ad were able to screencap it before it eventually went away. Those who clicked on the “Free” button were then led to a dead link inside the Google Play Store. This raised questions whether it was an honest mistake on the part of Instagram and Facebook or whether they were testing something else or whether there is actually an app called Bolt that will be launched soon.
If Bolt is a real app that will be introduced to the market soon, it might be their answer to another new photo messaging app that is making the buzz in the social media world. Taptalk claims it is the "fastest photo chat app in the world” as you do not need to go outside the your photo anymore to be able to share it. There is a camera viewfinder above the photo and if you tap it, you can send the photo directly to any one of your friends on your list, and you can even add a caption. Bolt’s one line description seems to indicate it will have that similar feature. However, they might find a legal battle on hand for the name if Bolt is a real app, since there is already an existing free calling app for Android with the same name.
But another way of looking at this “accidental leak” is that Bolt is not real but is being used to test the “app install ads” feature inside the photo sharing app. Facebook just recently rolled out similar ads on their newsfeed, so it’s not that far-fetched a theory (which came from TechCrunch journalist Sarah Perez). But given how people reacted to promoted posts inside Instagram, this might not be something that will be coming soon.
VIA: The Verge