The code for YouTube’s Android app reveals a testing ground for Instagram-style social features

The most recent version of YouTube‘s Android app includes some curious lines of code. A report from Android Authority reveals numerous references to Tamba, a mysterious entity that has some similarities to Instagram.

Android Authority‘s discoveries within the YouTube app include the logo pictured above and dozens of icons that share a crude aesthetic reminiscent of hand-drawn images. Those assets are tied to a package titled “com.google.android.youtube.sandbox,” suggesting that Tamba is a separate experience from the primary version of YouTube.

Based on the use of the word “sandbox” in that string, one hypothesis is that Tamba is nothing more than an experimental platform used to test new features before they’re pushed to YouTube. But Android Authority notes that the code references a separate “test” package, which means that Tamba could be something more than a digital lab.

Some of the terms used in the Tamba assets sound more like what you’d expect to see on Instagram rather than YouTube. There are references to followers, direct messages, and group chats. Tamba’s chats may also be able to integrate formats from the main version of YouTube, including Shorts.

If YouTube is trying to develop its own take on Instagram, it wouldn’t be the first tech company to utilize that strategy. Meta’s perceived abandonment of the qualities that made O.G. Instagram so popular have opened up opportunities for rivals. The photo app Dispo, for example, enjoyed a brief surge by telling its users that it’s not Instagram. More recently, TikTok embraced different types of photo content as part of an effort to revive the bygone Instagram experience.

YouTube, for its part, has built up its DMs as Instagram has turned those messages into a revenue stream. DMs haven’t traditionally been a big part of YouTube’s approach to community, but if Tamba is a real thing, it could put that form of correspondance front and center.

Of course, that’s a big if. YouTube runs all sorts of tests all the time, and it’s important to accept that Tamba could ultimately amount to little. But Instagram is eager to encroach on YouTube’s territory by allowing long-form video uploads. It wouldn’t be a surprise if YouTube returned the favor.

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