Hello, web creators!

We have some important updates to share with you about the Spectra Instagram Feed Block.

Here at Brainstorm Force, we aim to provide the best possible experience. However, sometimes unforeseen challenges arise, and we want to be transparent about the changes affecting the Instagram Feed Block.

From the beginning, our goal has been to simplify the process of displaying Instagram feeds on your website — just log in with your Instagram account, and Spectra takes care of the rest.

However, the reality behind the scenes is becoming increasingly complex.

We have worked tirelessly to maintain the Meta app that powers this block, allowing you to avoid the hassle of creating your own.

Unfortunately, Meta’s continuous restrictions and unpredictable policies have made it increasingly difficult to ensure a smooth experience.

In 2024 alone, we faced four significant issues with Meta, each requiring a considerable amount of time and energy to resolve, yet problems still persist.

Recently, Meta enforced restrictions on our app, forcing us to navigate the entire process to regain necessary permissions.

This ongoing situation places us in a difficult position.

We want to prevent any unexpected interruptions with your Instagram feeds due to Meta’s unpredictable policies.

While we strive to provide you with the best service, this challenge has prompted us to take a necessary step back.

What’s Changing?

To ensure a more reliable solution, we’ve decided that moving forward, you will need to create your own Meta app to use the Instagram Feed Block.

We understand this adds an extra step, and we genuinely regret any inconvenience. However, this will help protect you from unexpected service disruptions caused by Meta’s actions.

Meta has given a deadline of December 4th, but we’ve already received reports that some users are experiencing loading issues with the media from Meta.

While we are doing our best to keep our app running, communication with the Meta team has been challenging due to lengthy response times.

We are currently working on this change and hope to release it by November.

To facilitate a smooth transition, we will provide detailed written and video tutorials to guide you through the process of setting up your own Meta app. These resources will be available soon, and the changes are set to roll out this quarter.

This isn’t just an issue with Spectra; many plugins offering Instagram feed features are facing similar challenges and are also moving toward a user-based app setup due to Meta’s recent changes. These adjustments reflect broader industry shifts in response to Meta’s evolving policies.

Wrapping Up

We deeply appreciate your understanding and patience as we navigate these challenges.

Although this change wasn’t part of our original vision, we remain committed to ensuring that Spectra continues to help you create beautiful websites with ease.

No matter the obstacles, we will always strive to serve the Spectra community.

Thank you for being a part of our journey and for placing your trust in us.

Hello, WordPress warriors and web creators!

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, I’m sure many of you are busy prepping your sites for the sales.

I just want to take a moment to share some important updates about where Spectra is headed. There’s a lot going on, and changes are on the horizon.

But first, I can’t wait to share the news that Spectra just passed the magical million user milestone!

That’s 1 million active users. People like you and I who are using Spectra to build amazing websites.

This is huge for us, and we’re excited to celebrate this with our Brainstorm Force family—you.

Evolving With WordPress

As you know, the WordPress landscape is constantly shifting, and that brings both opportunities and challenges.

Over the past year, we’ve seen some key changes in WordPress that have directly impacted the features we’ve been building for Spectra.

I’d like to share three examples where this evolution has shifted our path forward.

Quick Action Bar

Earlier this year, we introduced the Quick Action Bar to make building sites more efficient by keeping block panels open as you worked.

This was meant to address the issue of panels closing and content shifting when adding a block.

However, WordPress version 6.7 is set to introduce a feature that will keep block panels open—essentially solving the problem we were addressing.

While the Quick Action Bar was a helpful addition, the upcoming change renders it largely obsolete.

Title Placement

You may have also noticed that we invested time in moving titles to a designated area at the top of the page.

However, we later had to deprecate that feature because WordPress version 6.6, adopted that same area for its own changes.

As a result, the effort we put into that feature became redundant.

This experience taught us a valuable lesson: building ahead of changes can sometimes backfire, leading to the unfortunate reality that the work we’ve done may become obsolete.

It’s an example of where we’ve had to pivot based on how WordPress is evolving.

Global Block Styles

One of our most ambitious features this year was Global Block Styles.

Released in beta back in October 2023, Global Block Styles were designed to allow you to create reusable styles across your site to save time and effort.

It was an advanced feature and we were excited about the positive feedback we received.

We’ve put a lot of effort into Global Block Styles.

The idea was simple but ambitious: create a library of styles you could apply to any page, giving you greater consistency and control.

Our team worked hard to integrate it with Spectra’s core blocks, refactor complex styles, and ensure compatibility with a wide range of themes.

We spent months working on it.

But it quickly became clear that integrating Global Block Styles with non-core blocks was a major technical challenge.

Managing inner blocks, keeping default settings intact, and balancing theme compatibility added even more complexity.

We made significant progress, but there are still hurdles to overcome before the feature can be fully implemented.

Then WordPress released Sync Patterns—a feature that essentially overlaps with what we were trying to build.

It’s maturing quickly, and after evaluating the trajectory, we had to ask ourselves: Is this the best use of our time and effort?

The answer, we realized, was no. So, we decided not to invest any more effort into it.

At Spectra, our mission is to make WordPress and web creation as simple and accessible as possible.

But when it introduces features that fulfill the same need, it doesn’t make sense to continue down a parallel path.

This isn’t just about avoiding duplication—it’s about being strategic and focusing our energy on building things that truly add value.

So, after much consideration, we’ve decided to pause further development of Global Block Styles.

We won’t be removing the feature from Spectra Pro for those of you who are already using it. But we want to set the right expectation — this feature will remain in beta for the foreseeable future, and we don’t have plans to take it out of beta at this time.

We’ve also decided to remove it from our marketing to avoid any confusion moving forward.

Looking Ahead – A Focus on Useful Blocks

While it may feel like we’re stepping back, the reality is that we’re refocusing.

Moving forward, we’re going to align more closely with WordPress and focus on building new, useful blocks that make a tangible difference in how you build websites.

We already have some exciting things lined up, including developing our Loop Builder and other valuable improvements.

You’ll have the freedom to create any kind of design with drag and drop block positioning. We’re also working with Motion Effects, a smooth system that animates blocks as you scroll.

The FAQ block will get a revamp too, transforming into an accordion-style element that allows you to insert other blocks inside for added versatility.

We’re also integrating free, copyright-safe images directly into Spectra, simplifying the process of adding high-quality visuals to designs.

And that’s not all — we’re exploring even more new blocks and features for the near future!

Wrapping Up

We’re incredibly grateful for the support and feedback you’ve given us over the years.

Spectra has grown alongside the WordPress ecosystem. As we hit the milestone of 1 million active installations, we’re more committed than ever to bringing you features that add real value to your workflow.

We’re excited about what’s coming next. We’re confident that by aligning our efforts with WordPress, we’ll be able to deliver even better tools for web designers like you.

Thank you for being part of our journey.

It doesn’t seem all that long ago when we were celebrating our 100th or 1,000th user in the Brainstorm Force office.

Now we’ve hit a milestone we didn’t think we would hit so soon, 1 million active users!

It’s one thing to be convinced that your product is good. It’s another to find out your audience thinks so too!

So let’s begin with a heartfelt thank you.

It’s an amazing achievement and when we say we couldn’t have done it without you, we really, really mean it!

To show our gratitude, we have a special surprise for all of you. It includes something that could make the upcoming sales season much more lucrative.

More on that in a little while.

Why 1 Million Active Users Matters

When we first decided to create a WordPress website builder, we had a simple goal.

We wanted to enable everyone to build beautiful, functional websites without the need for coding skills.

It was a lofty ambition, but we were driven by a passion for block building and a belief in its potential.

We began small, with Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg, but that was just the beginning.

It launched back in 2018 as a plugin for Gutenberg, now the block editor. It added some cool building blocks we thought WordPress was missing.

A turning point came when we launched our first major update in 2022. This is when Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg became Spectra.

It’s also when we introduced a suite of new features and performance improvements.

This update resonated with users. We saw a surge in downloads and positive feedback.

This told us we were on the right track and that Spectra really did have potential.

That’s why hitting 1 million active users matters.

Because it’s more validation that we’re getting it (mostly) right and that you’re loving what we’re creating.

There is still work to do. We have more features and blocks we want to add and so much more we want to achieve with Spectra.

So while we’re ecstatic at hitting 1 million users, we won’t be resting on our laurels.

We’re working through a list of suggestions you have submitted through our channels and dozens of internal recommendations too.

Suffice to say, we have big plans for Spectra over the next couple of years!

Spectra – The Journey to 1 Million

For those of you who have recently discovered Spectra, it’s history is longer than you might think:

What’s Next For Spectra?

We mentioned a little earlier that we’re working through a list of suggestions you have provided and internal ideas we came up from market research.

We plan to implement as many of them as possible over the next year or two.

We’re keeping most of our plans under wraps right now, but rather than leave you hanging, here are a couple of things to look forward to in upcoming updates.

We’re currently working on

• Block Positioning
• Custom CSS
• Loop Builder

And other features and we think you’re going to love them!

We are also working on many other aspects of Spectra, expect to see them in future updates!

A Big Thank You From the Spectra Team

We promised a special surprise at the top of the page. We think we have kept you waiting long enough, now it’s time to deliver.

To celebrate that 1 million active user milestone, we have something very special in store.

For a limited time only, we’re offering an exclusive, never before seen discount on all Spectra Pro plans!

Buy Spectra Pro and receive up to 50% off the purchase.

Yep, you read that right, get Spectra Pro at half price!

Consider it a big thank you from everyone here at Spectra for helping us hit the magical 1 million active user milestone.

May it be the first of many such celebrations!

Prepare for Sales Season With Spectra

The special discount couldn’t have come at a better time, as the sales season is almost upon us.

Upgrade to Spectra Pro using the special offer to access 3 special seasonal templates.

There are 2 templates for Black Friday and one for Halloween. All represent the same dedication to quality and design as Spectra.

If you’re planning a Halloween party or event, the Halloween template is everything you want from a template and more!

If you’re planning a Black Friday sale, the two BFCM templates deliver a great user experience and almost compel you to spend.

You can use all 3 templates for free when you opt for Essential Toolkit or Business Toolkit.

To show our gratitude, we’re offering an exclusive, one-time deal to celebrate.