With more than 2 billion active users, Instagram is right now World’s 4th most popular social media platform and 8th most visited website in the world. Launched in 2010 as a competitor for FourSquare, Instagram swiftly attracted a mass of active social media users, as the application pivoted its offerings, and become the world’s most sought-after image-sharing platform. Hugely popular among the younger generation (60% of users are aged between 18-30), Instagram generated ad revenues of $42 billion in 2022, as advertisers flocked to Instagram to showcase their products and services and attract more eyeballs.

1. This Is How Instagram Is Delighting
2 Billion+ Users: Decoding System
Architecture & Design
App Development
UI/UX Design
With more than 2 billion active users, Instagram is right now World’s 4th
most popular social media platform and 8th most visited website in the
world. Launched in 2010 as a competitor for FourSquare, Instagram swiftly
attracted a mass of active social media users, as the application pivoted its
offerings, and became the world’s most sought-after image-sharing platform.
Hugely popular among the younger generation (60% of users are aged
between 18-30), Instagram generated ad revenues of $42 billion in 2022, as
advertisers flocked to Instagram to showcase their products and services
and attract more eyeballs.
Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, for $1 billion in cash and equity,
making it one of the most expensive acquisitions in the Internet space.
Here are some interesting statistics about Instagram:
 100 million photos and videos are uploaded on Instagram every 24
hours
 Around 800 million users access Reels every day (short videos)
 Reels are shared 1 billion times every 24 hours

2.  An average American use Instagram for 30 mins a day
 Initially, only square (1:1) images were allowed to be uploaded, to
match the display of iPhones, but later, other aspects were also
allowed
 More than 500 million users access Instagram daily, across the
world
 Almost 70% of all Instagram posts are branded (business-linked)
Time Spent by Users On Instagram
It’s really fascinating, how Instagram is able to handle millions of users,
billions of images and videos, and is able to provide a seamless user
experience, day after day.
Behind its success lies a robust and scalable architecture, carefully designed
to accommodate the ever-growing user base while maintaining reliability and
delivering an unparalleled user experience.

3. In this blog, we will delve into the architecture and design of Instagram,
exploring how the development team ensured scalability, reliability, and a
seamless user experience. It will also give us insights into how a mobile app
development company ensues growth with an app engagement model.
The Powerful Backbone: Decoding System Architecture Of
Instagram
Instagram’s system architecture follows a distributed and scalable model to
handle the immense volume of user-generated content and interactions. The
architecture can be divided into the following key components:
Client Applications
Instagram’s client applications run on various platforms such as iOS and
Android. These applications serve as the interface between the user and the
system. Client applications provide features such as photo/video sharing,
feed browsing, direct messaging, and more for the users, thereby inspiring
more engagement and action.
The client applications communicate with the backend servers via APIs
(Application Programming Interfaces).
System Architecture Of Instagram
Load Balancers
To handle a large number of user requests, Instagram employs load
balancers, which distribute incoming requests across multiple servers to
ensure optimal resource utilization and prevent any single point of failure.
They play a crucial role in achieving high availability and scalability.

4. Web Servers
Instagram utilizes web servers to handle HTTP requests and serve static
content.
These servers are responsible for rendering user profiles, feeds, and other
web-based features.
By employing techniques like caching and content delivery networks (CDNs),
Instagram enhances performance and reduces latency for users accessing
the platform via web browsers.
Application Servers
The application servers are responsible for processing complex business
logic, executing user requests, and managing data interactions.

5. They handle operations such as user authentication, post creation,
notifications, and interactions with external services. Instagram utilizes a
horizontally scalable architecture, allowing for the addition of more
application servers as the user base expands.
Databases
Instagram employs a combination of relational and NoSQL databases to
handle its diverse data requirements. Relational databases are used for
storing structured data such as user profiles and relationships, while NoSQL
databases, such as Cassandra and Redis, are used for scalable storage of
user-generated content, including photos, videos, and comments.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
To ensure quick and efficient delivery of static content, Instagram leverages
a CDN. By caching frequently accessed images, videos, and other media
assets in geographically distributed edge servers, the platform reduces the
load on the backend servers and minimizes latency for users across the
globe.
Amazing Scalability Of Instagram: Supporting Billions Of
Users
100 million images are being uploaded daily, 800 million users of Reels daily,
and 2 billion active users! How does Instagram manage operations at this
scale? It sheds light on the significance of Android and iOS app development
services for highly-engaging applications.
Instagram’s architecture is designed to scale horizontally, meaning it can
handle increased traffic by adding more servers to the system. Here are
some key scalability measures implemented by the development team:
Sharding
To distribute the load across multiple database servers and improve query
performance, Instagram employs sharding. Sharding involves partitioning the
data into smaller subsets based on a chosen strategy, such as user IDs or
geographical regions. Each shard is then assigned to a different database
server, allowing for parallel processing and reduced response times.

6. Caching
Instagram utilizes caching extensively to reduce the load on backend servers
and improve response times. By caching frequently accessed data, such as
user profiles, feed items, and popular media, the platform minimizes the
need for repeated database queries, resulting in a faster user experience.
Asynchronous Processing
To handle resource-intensive operations, such as media uploads and
background tasks, Instagram employs asynchronous processing. By
offloading these tasks to separate worker processes or queues, the main
application servers can focus on serving user requests promptly, enhancing
system responsiveness and scalability.
How Instagram Offers Impeccable Reliability & Delightful
User Experience
Ensuring reliability and a seamless user experience are paramount for a
social media app like Instagram. Here are some strategies employed by the
development team:

7. Redundancy
Instagram employs redundant components at various levels of its
architecture to minimize the impact of failures. Multiple load balancers, web
servers, application servers, and databases are deployed in a redundant
setup, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.
Monitoring and Alerting
Instagram employs robust monitoring and alerting systems to detect any
anomalies, performance degradation, or potential issues in real time. This
enables the operations team to promptly address problems and maintain a
reliable user experience.
Continuous Deployment and A/B Testing
To roll out new features and improvements seamlessly, Instagram follows a
continuous deployment model. This allows for frequent updates without
disrupting the user experience. A/B testing is also employed to validate new
features and gather user feedback before a full-scale release, ensuring a high
level of quality and usability.
User Feedback and Data-Driven Iteration
Instagram values user feedback and employs data-driven iteration to
enhance its features and overall user experience continually. User behavior
and engagement data are collected and analyzed to identify pain points,
prioritize feature enhancements, and optimize the application’s performance
and usability.
The architecture and design of Instagram exemplify a successful approach
to building a massively popular and scalable social media app. By
implementing a distributed and scalable architecture, leveraging caching and
CDNs, and prioritizing reliability and user experience, Instagram has created
a platform that seamlessly handles millions of users, their content, and
interactions. With a constant focus on scalability, reliability, and user
feedback, Instagram continues to provide an immersive and engaging social
media experience for its ever-expanding user base.
If you wish to launch an application similar to Instagram, then schedule a no-
obligation consulting session with our Mobile App Engineers, and discover how
we can unleash a digital and mobile transformation for your business.