Think of Instagram and you likely think of its iconic app icon, which has remained largely unchanged through the company's history.
That came into question Friday -- just one day after the company revealed it was abandoning its signature square photos -- when images surfaced of what appeared to be a beta version of the photo-sharing app, showing a redesigned colorless app icon.
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The image was posted to Twitter Friday by user Jad Limcaco, who claims he got the screenshot from his cousin who said what appears to be a beta of the Instagram app "just popped up on his phone."
Looks like there's finally a flat @instagram icon. Do you like it? pic.twitter.com/XUXdMoDPeD— Jad Limcaco (@jadlimcaco) August 28, 2015
The photo shows a two-toned Instagram icon with a flatter design that lacks much of the detail of the existing icon, including the rainbow stripe and other colors. Many were quick to assume this meant Instagram would be ditching its longstanding app icon for the flatter design (after all, many other developers with overtly skeuomorphic app logos updated their apps after Apple abandoned the look in iOS 7.)
But Instagram purists need not worry after all.
An Instagram spokesperson told Mashable there are no plans to change the app icon. In a later tweet, Limcaco also said he "heard from a source at Instagram" that the flat app icon is only used for testing purposes.
Instagram has multiple internal icon designs. Like no one on the team actually sees the actual app icon https://t.co/ENZitwXoiG— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) August 28, 2015
Even though Instagram doesn't plan on changing the design of its logo, the screenshots provide an interesting look into how companies internally test new builds of their apps. As others have pointed out, it's very common for companies to have several different versions of their app at any given time for internal testing -- all of which may have a different icon to avoid confusion.
1Password, for example, has used an app icon with yellow stripes for its beta builds.
Hi @1PasswordBeta! :) pic.twitter.com/9l4frDFrox— Michele Foscardi (@ilbuffer) April 3, 2014