Instagram Unveils New Snapchat-Killer — ‘Instagram Direct’

Thursday morning, Instagram announced a big new feature.

The new feature shares some details with Snapchat. It'll tell you when your friend has looked at your photo, for example, or if someone "likes" it or saves it. The difference is that the photos stick around (as opposed to the disappearing pics on Snapchat), and comments can be posted on them. Only people you follow can send you photos directly. Photos from other folks go in a "pending requests" area in the app.

The standard Instagram app itself has also been redesigned for iOS 7 devices. It looks all nice and shiny.

Do you think this means the end of Snapchat? Will people still use it to send racy pictures, or information that they want to disappear? Or will we all switch over to Instagram's nice filters and added features?

The app will be available in the Apple App Store this afternoon.