Instagram was originally called Burbn before its launch. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger first developed Burbn as a location-based check-in application with features for posting photos, making plans, and earning points.
The founders eventually concluded that Burbn was too complicated and too similar to existing check-in services such as Foursquare. They studied how early users interacted with the product and noticed that photo-sharing was the most promising element. Systrom and Krieger therefore removed most of Burbn’s features and concentrated on photos, filters, and social sharing.
The simplified product was renamed Instagram, a blend of “instant camera” and “telegram.” A Burbn beta appeared in Apple’s App Store on October 6, 2010, while the stable Instagram release followed on October 12. PicPlz was another photo-sharing service, not Instagram’s original name; Polaroid and Snapchat were unrelated brands.