Instagram will introduce to its users with an option to see all the content that they might have missed based on the sorting order of when they were posted. In other words, Instagram is about to roll out “Latest Posts” feature to sort home feed based on chronological order. The new feature, which is not made public yet, was discovered by Jane Manchun Wong, a reputable reverse-engineer based in Hong Kong.
Wong tweeted that ‘Instagram is working on “Latest Posts” feed for catching up feed posts. This sounds like the chronological feed people are asking for. Similar, but not the same.’
The “Latest Posts” feature to see the recent updates of our beloved ones is now internally being tested by Instagram, and hopefully, very soon, we will see a proper update to an app with the new feature to see posts sorted based on the latest ones.
Jane Manchun Wong, according to TechCrunch, has found this feature of Instagram by reverse-engineering the Android app. She then took a screenshot of it by alternating the code to make this prototype feature appear and posted it on Twitter.
As per the screenshot, the pop-up says “Welcome Back! Get caught up on the posts from [names of people you follow] and 9 more”. This message in pop-up appeared as the user opens the app.
When the user taps on the “See Posts,” the user is taken to the new screen showing him all the latest posts by the people whom he follows. With the “Not Now” option user can see the updates where the current news feed starts showing. Instagram has not told about the new feature officially, but historically they have confirmed the leaks done by Jane Manchun Wong.
Back in the mid-2016 major update by Instagram, users could only see the updates that the app forced them to see first. That update was backed by an algorithm that shows non-chronological tailored feed. It tries to bring the posts up in the feed, which the app belives the user has more interest in. Moreover, the feed will further mix popular posts on the basis of several factors like location. There are a few other factors as well, which are not officially exposed by Instagram for sorting posts in the feed.
With the then new algorithm-driven Instagram feed update, users find it as if they were missing the actual updates. There was no option to sort on the basis of new/recent posts. With this, the user had to keep on scrolling till they find the new post updates from their friends and family.
After that in 2018, Instagram added a “You’re All Caught Up” message in the feeds when the user has seen all the updates from the last two days, to let the user know he has seen all posts even though they were not in any chronological order. After that message, the posts shown in the feeds are older than 48 hours. That update officially started by the start of July 2018.
Now with this new “Latests Posts” feature, we believe it will roll out soon, Instagram lets its billions of users to catch up with the latest updates as they open the app. But if only the user wants to see them first or else, the news feed will remain non-chronological like the way currently it is.
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