Ever find yourself mindlessly scrolling through Reels at 2:00 a.m. and wondering how we even got here? It feels like Instagram has just always been there, tucked inside our pockets like a digital limb. But the reality is that the "Gram" wasn't some corporate masterplan hatched in a boardroom. It was actually a side project that almost failed because it was too complicated.
So, when did IG start? Officially, the world got its hands on it on October 6, 2010.
But that's just the App Store date. The soul of the app was born months earlier in a rainy San Francisco South Beach harbor. Honestly, if you saw the original version, you probably wouldn't have even downloaded it.
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The "Burbn" Identity: Instagram’s Secret History
Before there were influencers or perfectly curated aesthetic feeds, there was an app called Burbn.
Kevin Systrom, a Stanford grad who’d spent time at Google, was obsessed with two things: location-based check-ins and fine Kentucky bourbon. He built Burbn as a HTML5 prototype that allowed people to check in at locations, make plans with friends, and—almost as an afterthought—post photos of what they were doing.
It was a mess.
The app was cluttered. It tried to do everything Foursquare was doing, but worse. But Systrom noticed something weird. Users weren't really using the check-in features or the "plans" features. They were obsessed with the photo-sharing part. They wanted to show people what they were eating and drinking, even if the mobile cameras in 2010 were, frankly, pretty terrible.
He brought on Mike Krieger, another Stanford alum, and the two of them made a brutal executive decision. They decided to gut the entire app. They threw away months of work on the check-in features and focused exclusively on three things: photos, comments, and likes.
They renamed it Instagram—a portmanteau of "instant camera" and "telegram."
The First Post Ever
The first "test" post didn't happen in October. It happened on July 16, 2010. Mike Krieger uploaded a blurry shot of a marina at Pier 38. A few hours later, Kevin Systrom posted the famous picture of a stray dog at a taco stand in Mexico, featuring his girlfriend’s foot.
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He used a filter called X-Pro II.
That was the "aha" moment. Filters made crappy phone photos look like vintage art. Suddenly, you didn't need a $2,000 DSLR to look like a photographer. You just needed an iPhone and a sense of "vibe."
When Did IG Start to Take Over the World?
When the app finally hit the iOS App Store in October 2010, the response was literal chaos.
They expected maybe a few hundred downloads. Instead, they got 25,000 users in the first 24 hours. The servers were screaming. By the end of the first week, they had 100,000 users. Within three months? A million.
It's hard to explain how fast that was for the time. For context, it took Facebook nearly a year to hit that million-user mark.
Why the sudden explosion?
- The iPhone 4 factor: Apple had just released the iPhone 4 with a significantly better camera.
- Simplicity: No links, no status updates, just pictures.
- The "Social" in Social Media: Unlike Flickr, which was for "pros," Instagram felt like a playground.
The Billion-Dollar Phone Call
By 2012, Instagram was the hottest thing in tech. But it was still only on iPhone.
On April 3, 2012, they finally released the Android version. It was downloaded a million times in less than a day. Six days later, Mark Zuckerberg called Kevin Systrom.
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Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock.
People thought Zuckerberg was insane. "A billion dollars for an app with 13 employees and no revenue?" the headlines screamed. Looking back from 2026, that deal might be the greatest steal in the history of business. Today, Instagram is worth well over $100 billion as a standalone entity within Meta.
Moving Past the Square: Key Milestones
Instagram didn't stay a simple photo app for long. If you've been around since the beginning, you remember the "Great Algorithm Change" of 2016. That's when they killed the chronological feed, and honestly, some people are still mad about it.
Here’s a quick look at how the "start" of different eras changed the app:
- January 2011: Hashtags are introduced. Suddenly, you could find #tbt (Throwback Thursday) posts everywhere.
- June 2013: Video sharing arrives. You could only post 15 seconds. It felt like a lifetime back then.
- August 2016: Stories launch. This was a blatant clone of Snapchat, but it worked. It changed the app from a "highlight reel" to a "behind the scenes" look at life.
- June 2018: IG reaches 1 billion monthly active users.
- August 2020: Reels launches to compete with TikTok.
- January 2025: Instagram expands Reels length to 180 seconds, basically turning into a mini-YouTube.
Common Misconceptions About the Start
A lot of people think Instagram was an overnight success because of Facebook. Nope. It was already a cultural juggernaut before Zuck ever wrote a check.
Another big one? That it was always meant to be a business tool. Honestly, the founders were actually pretty hesitant about ads. The first ad didn't even appear until late 2013—three years after the app launched. It was a Michael Kors ad, and people absolutely hated it. Now, we buy half our wardrobes through "Suggested for You" posts.
Actionable Insights for the "New" Instagram
If you’re looking to grow on the platform today, you have to realize that the "start" of Instagram as a photo app is over. We’re in the Performance Era now.
- Don't over-curate: The "Instagram Aesthetic" of 2014 (white borders, high contrast) is dead. People want "lo-fi" and "photo dumps."
- Video is the tax: If you want reach, you have to post Reels. The algorithm prioritizes movement.
- Engagement happens in the DMs: The main feed is for discovery, but the real community-building happens in private messages and Stories.
Instagram started as a way to share a grainy photo of a cocktail. Now, it’s a global economy. Whether you love the new video-heavy direction or miss the old square photos, there's no denying that October day in 2010 changed how we see the world—literally.
If you want to dive deeper into the technical side, check out the original Burbn case studies or look up Mike Krieger's early engineering blogs. It’s a wild reminder that the biggest apps in the world usually start as messy, "cluttered" ideas that someone had the guts to simplify.