September 2025 Social Media Platform Updates
Thursday 2nd October 2025
by Beth Perrin
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Many great new features and updates were released by all of the top social media platforms throughout September, which will help brands and businesses improve their marketing results, while also giving casual users fun and fresh ways to connect with their friends and families. Let’s recap some of them below so you can find out which ones may benefit you or your marketing strategy throughout Q4.
AI Backgrounds for WhatsApp Video Chats
WhatsApp kicked off the month by adding a range of AI-generated backgrounds that can be used during video calls, as well as a range of new filters and effects to give users more ways to liven up their 1:1 chats.
To try them out, simply join a video call or open your camera in WhatsApp and tap ‘Call effects’, followed by ‘Backgrounds’. Swipe through the backgrounds and tap ‘Create with AI’. Describe the image you’d like to create in the text field, then tap ‘next’ - or alternatively select a suggested image to explore more ideas. Then you can either tap the check mark to apply the generated background, or the round arrow to to see a new set of images.
Instagram iPad App
After many years of requests from users, Instagram has finally launched a dedicated iPad version of the app, designed specifically for the tablet’s larger screen. Explaining the app’s design, Instagram said: “We wanted to take advantage of the bigger screen to give people more features with fewer taps, while keeping it simple. We’ve made it easier to catch up on your messages and notifications with layouts that display both tabs. When you watch Reels, you can expand the comments while the Reel stays at full size, making it easy to catch up on the best reactions without missing a moment.”
Threads 10K Character Limit
Threads has launched a new text expansion option that enables users to attach an additional piece of text - up to 10,000 characters long - to their posts. The tool is accessible via a new icon in the post composer, which will take you through to a blog-style editor where you can then write your extra copy. This will then be added to your post, and will be shown to readers via a ‘Read more’ prompt on your published post.
Updated Community Notes on Meta Platforms
Meta has announced some new updates to its Community Notes feature, that it hopes will help improve the system and make it easier for users and contributors to request and provide context to content across its platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Threads).
• All users can now vote on the quality of any Community Note they come across, by simply tapping on a thumbs up or thumbs down icon. This will give Meta more feedback about the relevance of each note, which it can then use to improve future contributions.
• All users can now request a Community Note on any post they come across.
• Users will now receive notifications when a post they’ve previously interacted with receives a Community Note, helping to address the spread of misinformation.
New Meta Ad Options
Meta announced some new ad options at its annual Brand Building Summit, including more options for Reels ads, new ad formats for Threads, and some new AI-powered targeting tools.
• Reels trending ads
These ads enable marketers to place their ads alongside popular Reels content. The format uses AI to curate the most trending and culturally relevant Reels inventory, giving advertisers access to highly engaging, brand-safe video content that “puts their brand where culture happens”.
• New Threads ad formats
Advertisers on Threads now have more flexibility with how their ads appear in the feed, including 4:5 rendering for single image and video ads and carousels. Soon, Advantage+ catalog ads and app ads will begin testing too.
• Threads ads without a profile
Brands that don’t have a Threads account can now expand their Instagram or Facebook ad campaigns to Threads.
• Value rules
Brand advertisers can now use value rules for any ads with the ‘awareness’ and ‘engagement’ objectives, allowing them to adjust their campaigns towards criteria and outcomes they value more.
Instagram Edits Updates
Midway through the month, Instagram released some more updates to its separate video editing app ‘Edits’, in order to make the Reels creation process even more intuitive and efficient.
• Keyframes for opacity
You can now effortlessly control the speed of fade-ins and fade-outs to create seamless transitions.
• Save sound effects
Easily save sound effects so you can retrieve them quickly.
• Convert clips to overlays
Turn one of your video clips into an overlay (or vice versa), giving you more control to manage layers.
Boost Posts on X
X is now allowing users to pay for increased reach on their content, via a new ‘Boost’ button below posts. Although it doesn’t offer full advertising options such as a target audience or CTA, the boost button will give you a range of impression amounts to choose from to expand the viewership of your post:
• 11k-27k impressions: $50
• 23k-54k impressions: $100
• 116k-272k impressions: $500
• 225k-543k impressions: $1,000
Threads Profile Search
Threads has added a handy new profile search feature that will make it easier to find relevant posts from a specific user. When you tap the magnifying glass icon at the top of a user’s profile, it will now automatically apply a “From: username” tag in front of your search term(s), which means that the keyword(s) you enter will only be searched for within that user’s content, rather than the whole platform.
WhatsApp Message Translations
WhatsApp is rolling out a new message translation tool that it hopes will “help break down language barriers and allow users to connect more deeply with loved ones and communities around the globe.”
When you see a message in a different language, you can now simply long-press on it and tap ‘Translate’ - then choose the language you want it to be translated from or to, or download it to be saved for future translations. The option will be available in 1:1 chats, group chats, and Channel updates. Android users can also turn on automatic translations for an entire chat thread, so that all future incoming messages in that conversation will be translated as well.
More New WhatsApp Features
WhatsApp also released its monthly feature roundup, outlining all of its recent updates and new tools:
• Live and motion photos
You can now share Live Photos (iOS) and Motion Photos (Android) with friends.
• New chat themes with Meta AI
Chat themes were added earlier this year as a way to customise your chats, and now you can use the power of Meta AI to boost your creativity and make custom chat themes of your own.
• New sticker packs
New sticker packs have been introduced to make your chats more expressive and fun.
• Easier group search
If you’ve forgotten a group chat name, you can now search within your Chats tab for someone you know that’s in the group, and all the groups you have in common will be displayed.
• Document scanning on Android
You can now scan, crop and send documents directly from WhatsApp on Android devices (previously only available on iPhone).
• New video call backgrounds with Meta AI
As detailed earlier, you can now use Meta AI to create unique backgrounds for your video calls, and add AI backgrounds when taking photos and videos directly in chats.
TikTok Travel Ads
With so many people now turning to social media for holiday inspiration, TikTok has launched a new ad type called Travel Ads, which are designed to help travel marketers tap into the platform’s highly engaged, aspirational audience, by showcasing relevant offers and travel options in the app.
• Enriched travel ad formats
Brands can showcase their hotels, flights and destinations through visually engaging, dynamic ad formats to boost engagement and drive conversions.
• Intent-driven performance
Advertisers can combine TikTok’s travel intent model with their catalog data to deliver relevant, personalised travel ads at scale that cover the entire journey from discovery to booking.
• Smart+ automation
Campaigns are powered by AI in order to automate the setup, creative generation and delivery processes.
Travel ads will come in three formats:
• Single video
• Catalog video
• Carousel: single video
Each ad will feature a clickable travel card with relevant information such as hotel name and ratings, pricing, flight information and discounts, helping travellers make informed decisions as they plan their trips. These cards are built using details from the brand’s catalog, and will appear two seconds after the video ad starts playing.
Summary
Have you tried any of these features yet? Which ones have been the most useful for you or your brand? Whether you’re an individual user, an influencer or a social media marketer, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the latest updates. Find us on X @3sixfivepro to share which new tools you’re looking forward to using, and let us know how you’re planning to implement them into your strategy this autumn.
