Instagram Announces 27 Million Users, Android App Coming 'Very Soon'

AUSTIN, Texas -- Photo-sharing app Instagram has nearly doubled its total number of registered users since December, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom announced Sunday at the South by Southwest conference.

Instagram, which launched two years ago, now boasts 27 million registered users, up from 15 million in December of last year, according to Systrom. Foursquare, by comparison, claims just under 20 million users, and was founded in March of 2009.

"At the end of the day, people are really excited about Instagram and they're not excited about it because it makes your photos look beautiful. They're excited because it networks people across the world and it's the single fastest growing thing in mobile period," Systrom said. "It's Facebook-level of engagement that we're seeing."

At present, Instagram is available only on Apple's iOS platform. But Systrom said the company has developed an Android app that is currently being tested in private beta and will be released "very soon."

Systrom described the Android app as even better, in some ways, than Instagram's iOS app, and noted that the Instagram team had been "working hard on making this one of the best Android apps you'll ever see."

"When I say superior I just mean it's really, really fast," Systrom noted. "The more we work on this stuff, the more we learn and the better it gets for everyone."

Twenty-five thousand people registered for Instagram the day that it launched, Systrom said.

"The second we launched we knew we had something different," he said. "It was nothing like anything I'd ever seen before."

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Instagram was raising a new round of funding that valued the company at as much as $500 million. Systrom declined to comment on the valuation.

Apple picked Instagram as its "app of the year" last December.

This is a developing story and has been updated.

Comments

[stevio1973]

12:48 PM on 08/02/2012

Excellent info! a must share with my community. :)

http://appleappscom.com

[yusnan ruwanda]

12:49 AM on 05/15/2012

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Best 5 iPhone Photo Editor Apps

[Wally Parnel]

08:09 PM on 04/02/2012

Wonder how many users they will get, before they do what JPEG did........start charging people for the Instagram pics.

[anmamt]

11:17 PM on 03/16/2012

Yes. Better on the Android! I can't wait until it is released!

[manish pandey]

08:25 AM on 03/16/2012

Android Application Development
Good to see that android is coming up day by day.

[Dee Amschler]

11:27 PM on 03/12/2012

I'll believe the Android app when I see it. This isn't the first time they've said "soon" or "very soon" in the last several months or that it's been doing well in beta. They're approaching over-hyped.

On the other hand, I do hear it's a great way to share photos if you're into that. And photo sharing is something that remains really clunky on Android.

[Gronkie]

04:31 PM on 03/12/2012

I've got Android, and I've been seeing the word Instagram knocking around so I got curious. Okay, I've read about it and I still don't get it. What's the point? Most people aren't interested in my pix, and I'm not interested in theirs. Like looking at someone else's vacation photos. Who cares?

[dmoorie]

02:24 PM on 03/12/2012

little excited, little perturbed by the idea of having yet another social network dangled in front of me. so many of us are becoming addicts :p

[Lechiffre]

02:38 PM on 03/12/2012

i don't think you have to use it to share. you can use on a simple ipod player . they all have cameras these days and they needn't be connected to the internet. I have no plans to share any pic anywhere .

[dmoorie]

04:12 PM on 03/12/2012

no i agree - - im sure there's an option to link it to other social networks and to keep your photos private or make them public on the instagram network

[Wally Parnel]

08:12 PM on 04/02/2012

Leave the phone at home, go to an actual bar, and actually meet people. 100% better than the a cutesy pic and Twitter nonsense.

[jencanfield7]

02:23 PM on 03/12/2012

This isn't news. Instagram has been saying this for months! And all they could tell us at SXSW was "very soon". Really building up the anticipation!

[mlw1965]

02:14 PM on 03/12/2012

It's a Stefanie Schneider art rip off!
www.instantdreams.net
It makes your photos look like a Stefanie Schneider artwork.

[nerdyjen]

04:31 PM on 03/12/2012

Except that filters and photo editing have been around for decades and nobody's heard of the chick you're trying to promote.

[mlw1965]

11:54 AM on 03/14/2012

oh yeah!

[DemocracySimulation]

02:08 PM on 03/12/2012

To all the tr0lls complaining about IG: 1) You're not forced to use any filters unlike Hipstamatic (but you do have to compose in a square aspect ratio) 2) Real hipsters hate pre-packaged filters 3) Continue to hate life and anything/everything that makes anyone else happy.

I have for one have found it to be the most exciting social network to come along in a long time and I would consider dumping all the rest for the simplicity of it. I attribute it to being the photo version of Twitter. And just like Twitter I only follow people that have something interesting to say in their daily lives. There's some amazing photography on there and it keeps me inspired as a professional photographer to keep looking for those magic moments even when I don't have thousands of dollars worth of gear with me.

[Mat Biscan]

01:39 PM on 03/12/2012

I would love to have Instagram on my Android phone. :D

[imayes]

12:34 PM on 03/12/2012

How do they make money?

[Steamboater]

12:21 PM on 03/12/2012

Okay folks. Here's what it does.

http://infospace.ischool.syr.edu/2011/12/15/what-is-instagram-and-why-is-it-so-popular/

[Enid]

01:44 PM on 03/12/2012

thank you

[Kelly Lux]

11:36 AM on 03/18/2012

Hey, thanks for linking to my post! I've been an Instagram fanatic since it first came out ~ a wonderful community there. Follow me on IG @kellylux ~

[Steamboater]

12:14 PM on 03/12/2012

My puter know-how runs from turning my puter on to turning it off. All this is Greek to me.