Yesterday, Instagram globally launched a new feature called “Instants” designed to share authentic photos that disappear. While the Meta-owned social network billed Instants as a new format for sharing real-life moments as they happen, many users are looking for a way to turn off the feature, especially those who have concluded accidentally send images to others without fully understanding how the feature works.
When you open Instagram’s new Instants section for the first time by tapping the mini-stack of photos in the bottom-right corner of your inbox, the app opens a short introduction about the feature that tells users that Instants are disappearing, there’s no viewer list, and that reactions and replies are private. The app then quickly takes you through the viewing and reacting process in Instant.
Once you get to the camera, below that is a shutter button, and below that is a toggle that lets you choose between Friends and Close Friends. By default, it is set to “Friends”.
What Meta doesn’t immediately inform users about is the fact that the moment you press the shutter button, the photo taken is automatically sent to everyone on your friends list, unless you manually change the setting to “Close Friends” beforehand.
Since the process of sending an image is not clearly explained, many users have ended up accidentally sending a photo to others they didn’t mean to. (It’s worth noting that Meta offers an “undo” option once a photo has been sent, but it’s easy to miss because the whole experience of accidentally exposing yourself to others can be quite annoying.) Additionally, some people didn’t even realize a photo had been sent.
On an app like Instagram, where users are used to carefully reviewing and curating their content before sharing, the design of the instant upload feature has understandably frustrated many people, given that their privacy is at stake.
Not surprisingly, many users are looking for ways to disable the feature. We’ll walk you through how to turn it off and how to unsend a photo if you shared by mistake.
How to turn off Instants
To disable the new Instants feature, go to your profile, click the three-line menu in the top right to open your settings. Scroll down to Content Preferences and toggle Hide Snapshots in Inbox.
Once you make this choice, you will no longer see the Instants feature in your inbox. You also won’t see any Instants that others have sent you.
If you don’t want to turn the feature off completely, you can long-press the pile of Instants in your inbox and swipe right to temporarily stop receiving them.
How to undo an Instant
Once you’ve sent an Instant, an Undo option appears below the shutter button, allowing you to quickly recall the photo before recipients see it.
Additionally, you can go to your file by selecting the four-frame icon in the top-right corner of the camera and delete an Instant, which will unsend it to friends who haven’t opened it yet.
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