Instants is a new format in the news section on Instagram, which is intended to encourage quick sharing of what is happening here and now. Since its introduction, users have been constantly complaining about this feature and pointing out that it is simply annoying. Fortunately, we are not stuck with it and we can easily turn it off.
What are Instagram Instants?
Instants are disappearing photos that we send directly to friends through Instagram’s inbox, and the recipient can only view them once, for a maximum of 24 hours – kind of like what Stories were once intended to be. However, what distinguishes them is that we cannot upload files from the gallery: we have to take a photo live with the camera in the application, without filters and editing. The feature appears as a stack of thumbnails in the lower right corner of your DM box; after tapping the screen, we go to the Instants camera. Each such photo can be sent to all mutual followers or only to a group of close friends.
What do Instants let you do?
The idea of Instants is authentic, spontaneous sharing of the moment: without any refinement of the feed, filters or long processing. Recipients can react with emojis, reply to photos and send back their Instants, and the entire interaction happens privately in DMs. What’s extremely important: Instagram blocks screenshots and Instants screen recording, although of course someone can still take a photo of the screen with a second phone. The Instants we send go to a private archive, where we can view them for up to a year. From this archive, we can assemble a recap and publish it as a Story if you decide that a given series of moments deserves a wider audience.
The biggest problem is the way they are published: when you press the camera shutter, the photo automatically goes to all your friends from the list selected in the switcher, which is prone to accidents. Instagram’s intro screen states that Instants disappear, there is no viewer list and everything happens privately, but many users don’t immediately understand that one tap sends a photo to followers. While screenshots are blocked, there’s nothing stopping someone from recording your screen with another device, so don’t treat Instants like an incognito mode. Additionally, it is worth remembering that Instants content is stored in a server-side archive and is subject to the same moderation rules as the rest of Instagram.
How to turn off Instants on Instagram?
Many users did not like this feature: and since the day of its release, there has been a lot of complaining about this aspect of the application. Fortunately: they can be turned off. If you want to get rid of Instants from the app, open Instagram, go to your profile, click the three lines icon in the upper right corner and go to settings and activities. There, find the What You See and Content Preferences section. Now all you have to do is turn on the Hide Instant content in the inbox switch at the bottom. After activating this option, the Instants stack will disappear from the mailbox and we will not see or have the option to send this type of messages. If you don’t want to disable the feature completely, you can temporarily put it to sleep – you can do this by holding the Instants stack and swiping right to hide them, then swiping left to restore them.
It’s worth knowing new features and how to deal with them
As you can see: the devil is not as scary as he is painted: especially since Instagram allows you to easily both hide and deactivate the new function. It’s worth keeping this in mind, as well as knowing everything about how this feature works and potential problems associated with it.
