Instagram has launched an app designed after Snapchat.

The online mobile photo and video sharing and social networking service released an app called Bolt on Tuesday.

It's Instagram's first venture into speedy and ephemeral one-to-one video and photo-messaging.

The company launched Bolt on Android and iOS in New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa.

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Technology website TechCrunch said Instagram is testing the app in these English-speaking and Instagram-fluent countries before rolling it out in the United States.

Instagram selected these countries according to the high usage of its service, impressive Android Ice Cream Sandwich stats and their English-speaking and interconnected communities.

The company created Bolt for people to share images, videos and messages with their contacts via one quick tap.

Users need to sign-up using their phone numbers so Bolt can load the contact list. it displays a contact list in the form of people's faces at the bottom of the screen.

Users will be brought to the home screen the serves as Bolt's camera. After taking a photo, a user can send it to his friends by just tapping on his face.

After contacts receive the messages, they can simply swipe on it for the message to disappear. Messages will be erased from Instagram servers for good after 30 days.

Bolt isn't really that different from Snapchat or other apps with similar features.

Bolt, however, has a special feature that lets users stop a photo or video from being sent.

A user just has to shake his smartphone to undo a message when it's in mid-transit. He can also save a photo to his Camera Roll.

A similar app called Slingshot was launched by Facebook in June.

TagsInstagram, Bolt, photo sharing, video sharing, App, snapchat