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Instagram hits refresh on its iconic icon

The retro camera is gone, replaced by a stripped-down minimalist logo.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
Dan Ackerman

Instagram, the popular social-media photography app owned by Facebook, is getting a new look.

The app's longtime icon, a retro-looking camera, has been replaced by a new minimalist version, with a white line drawing of a camera shape against a gradient colored background. The change seems to reflect a shift away from the vintage-style filters the app is known for and toward a focus on mainstream social sharing.

In a blog post announcing the change on Wednesday, the company said: "The Instagram community has evolved over the past five years from a place to share filtered photos to so much more -- a global community of interests sharing more than 80 million photos and videos every day. Our updated look reflects how vibrant and diverse your storytelling has become."

There are small changes to the look and feel of the app itself, but so far no changes to its functionality.

Instagram did not immediately respond to a question about whether feature changes are coming to the app as well.