News

Instagram Tops 3B Users And Pushes New Reels & UI Tweaks

After hitting the significant milestone, the Meta-owned platform is adding new Reels controls and a navigation bar redesign.

Published

1 year ago

September 25, 2025

Nour Nasir

Instagram

Instagram has crossed 3 billion monthly users, making it Meta’s third app to reach the milestone after Facebook and WhatsApp. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed the figure this week, underlining Meta’s dominance in social platforms.

It’s hard to overstate the significance of that massive user count. Three billion monthly logins is more than a third of the global population. With Meta’s apps blocked in China and many regions still offline, the figure suggests over half of the connected world uses Instagram.

Reels In Focus

To mark the occasion, Instagram is testing a feature that shows which topics the Reels algorithm believes you’re interested in. Users can add, remove, or mute categories to shape their feed. Most may leave the system untouched, but it offers a manual lever for those who want it.

Instagram is also shifting its navigation. Direct Messages moves down to the bottom bar alongside Home and Reels, while the create button shifts to the top left and search nudges right. The redesign reflects where users spend most of their time.

Also Read: How To Find & Cancel Pending Instagram Requests

Next Moves

Reels is already the app’s most used feature. Instagram has tested defaulting to Reels in some regions and on iPad, though for now the main feed still opens first. A full switch feels only a matter of time.

At 3 billion users, the platform is more than Meta’s third giant app — it’s another example of the company scaling compulsive behavior to a global audience.

News

NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders

A controlling 65% stake in noon payments would give NEOPAY access to marketplace sellers, online merchants and the payment flows they generate.

Published

1 day ago

October 5, 2026

Nour Nasir

neopay wants to follow merchants across channels and borders

It’s been a long time since checkouts were single defined places. A merchant might take payments at a physical register, on its own website and through an online marketplace, sometimes in more than one country. NEOPAY wants to follow those transactions wherever they happen.

The UAE payments company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 65% controlling stake in noon payments. NEOPAY already runs the acquiring infrastructure that lets merchants accept card payments, along with omnichannel acceptance and a merchant services platform. This new deal would add noon payments’ embedded payments platform, e-commerce gateway and merchant network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That would considerably expand both NEOPAY’s digital commerce capabilities and its regional reach.

For merchants, the attraction is a single provider for online and in-store payments, plus faster settlements, data and analytics, and value-added financial services.

“Payments should be simple, reliable, and built for the markets they serve,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. His counterpart at NEOPAY, Vibhor Mundhada, added: “We have built a strong payments business in the UAE, and our ambition is now to take that capability across the region”. The acquisition, Mundhada added, would “expand our footprint into Saudi Arabia and Egypt” while reinforcing NEOPAY’s position at home.

Also Read: In Kuwait, Your Surgeon Might Be Operating From Another Country

NEOPAY is also keen to point out potential payment volume increases. The company says noon payments’ integrations with marketplace sellers and online merchants create high transaction density in some of the region’s fastest-growing digital commerce segments. It also believes control of the business would give it access to those merchant relationships and payment flows, and speed up the rollout of alternative payment methods and installment options.

The combined roadmap targets faster merchant onboarding, better payment performance, tighter fraud controls and embedded financial services. The deal could also strengthen cross-border payments and settlement along key regional commerce corridors.