Instagram has further improved upon its live video feature by allowing users to request to join a live video. The Facebook-owned social network first launched live videos back in November of last year and, since then, the feature has become an important part of the Stories feature that was rolled out a few months prior. Recently, the company added the ability to live stream in pairs, but now Instagram is taking this one step further by allowing viewers to request to join a live video.
Until now, the only way of joining a live video was to enter it as a viewer and wait for the host of the video to add a user off of their own accord or by asking them through the comment section. As part of the latest update, though, the social network has introduced a new “Request” button which, just as the name indicates, allows users to send the creator of a live video a request to join it. For every request that is received, a new “View” button will appear alongside it in the comments section. In addition to this, the two smiley face button will now show the number of requests that have been received and, by tapping the button, the creator will be shown a list of viewers and requests. In any case, once the creator has accepted the request, a notification will show up informing the user that it has been accepted and they will be given a short time in order to prepare for the live video. Once the time is over, the live video will instantly split in half and both Instagram users can begin to chat away, while the rest of the viewers watch and interact via the comment section and, just as before, the user who joined can leave the live video at any time. Of course, the creator isn’t obligated to accept a request in the first place and can easily decline one at any time.
As with the previous update, creators can invite any viewers to join the video, but the limit is still one guest at a time. The host of the video also retains the option to remove a guest at any given time and, just as usual, the live video can be shared to their Story as soon as the live stream is over, where it will remain for 24 hours or until the creator deletes it, whichever comes first. This new update will be available to both iOS and Android users with version 24 of the Instagram app.
