Instagram’s latest update is leaving users deeply paranoid about who's watching their profile
Earlier this year, Instagram released a premium subscription feature where subscribers can pay for added features, making snooping on someone's profile a little less straightforward.
The new subscription option released in June at a price of $3.99 a month, giving users access to exclusive features including story tools, custom icons, and ‘more control over who sees what’.
However, the latest update to Instagram Plus has left some users feeling paranoid about who could be looking at their profile, as one feature allows users to hide themselves from other people's Story viewer list, meaning you can view someones Story as many times as you like undetected. At the same time however, Plus users can also see how many times someone has rewatched your story, which becomes pretty useless if that person kind hide themselves entirely.
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And another replied: “to make their users more paranoid about who exactly is rewatching their story and for what reason. i seriously don’t see a point of doing that other than to make teenagers nervous.”
Meanwhile, a third person added: “i feel like their gonna introduce a higher tier where you can see those.”
Features included in Instagram Plus
- Story Preview
- Story Rewatch Count
- Search Viewer Sheet
- Story Spotlight
- Story Extend
- Unlimited Audience Lists
- Custom App Icon
- Story Super Hearts
Is Instagram Plus available worldwide?
Meta initially tested out the subscription in certain countries such as Mexico, Japan, and the Philippines, but now, Instagram Plus is being rolled out globally.
The monthly subscription unlocks various features on the app which Instagram says is ‘designed to deepen your friendships, give you more control over your experience, and let you express yourself in new ways’.
However, not everyone seems to agree, with a piece from The Atlantic describing the features as ‘dismal’, adding that it is a new way to ‘torture yourself’ by keeping tabs on who is - and isn’t - viewing your content.
In a clip posted to Instagram by the platform’s CEO, Adam Mosseri, he explained how you can now preview someone else’s story by ‘long-pressing’ on it as a way to by-pass being added to the viewer list.
With the service, users can see how many times people have rewatched their stories with the Story Rewatch Count feature as well as a Search Viewer Sheet to help you find out if a specific person has viewed it.
Story Spotlight promises to push a subscriber’s Instagram story to the top of feeds, while Story Extend gives you an additional 24 hours before stories disappear.
Audience control is another factor in the Plus service, with Meta offering subscribers the option to ‘share stories with exactly who you want, no extra groups required’. This includes the use of Unlimited Audience Lists which allow users to create custom groups for different circles, ‘whether it’s close friends, coworkers, or a select few’.