Instagram’s chronological feed is finally back, but there’s a catch

 

After the test that started earlier this year, it’s official: Instagram’s chronological feed is finally back! If you still hate the algorithmic feed, you can turn things back the way they used to be six years ago. You can see the posts in the order that they were – but it’s just an option that’s not set by default.

Let’s start from the beginning. Instagram started with the chronological feed and everyone was seemingly perfectly fine with it. However, in 2016, the feed became “curated” by the algorithm that people have been complaining about ever since.

Instagram waited five and a half years to finally reintroduce the chronological feed. In December last year, the new (or actually, old) way of organizing the feed was announced. “We want people to have meaningful control over their experience,” Instagram wrote in the announcement at the time. And at the very beginning of this year, the first test started to roll out for some users. And now, it’s here for everyone.

As I mentioned, the revamped chronological feed option isn’t the default option. Instead, you can toggle between three different versions of your feed. You know, just in case you change your mind. There’s the “Home” feed which remains the default, and it’s the one led by the algorithm. There’s also the “Following” feed, and this is actually the chronological one. Finally, there’s also “Favorites,” which is similar to the same feature on Facebook. It lets you choose up to 50 favorite accounts and see their content first.

To toggle between the different feeds, there’s a new drop-down menu in the upper left corner of Instagram. Since it’s still being rolled out, I’m only seeing it on one of the accounts I manage and I only have the “Following” and “Favorites” options. No default, algorithm-based feed, and I’m not complaining.

Since the new feed arrangement is still being rolled out, you may see it incomplete as I do, or you may still not have it at all. But it should appear on your account(s) probably by the end of the week.

[via Engadget]