Seems wild to say it but Instagram is a whopping ten years old today. One of the most dominant social media apps in the world finally hit double digits (in terms of its age) and while we could be wallowing in the fact that we’re so incredibly, painfully old let’s rather focus on some of the nicer things regarding Instagram’s birthday. Well, as nice as one can get when discussing an all consuming engine designed to keep you embedded in it’s ecosystem while bombarding you with imagery to suck you in deeper and ensure you don’t leave the app. It was raining when I woke up today, can you tell?
Okay okay, I’m getting off my soapbox to tell you all about the actual “fun” news on how Instagram is celebrating turning ten years old. It’s all in a look as they say and following an update that’s currently rolling out, users will be able to select which home screen icon they want for Instagram. The app’s logo has gone through several redesigns over the years, some better than others, so to celebrate history (I guess?) you can select which Instagram icon you want!
You have a range to choose from, including the classic Polaroid-style that kicked it all off. You can also switch to some brand new icons which are basically just reskins of the current logo but still, it’s cool that you can match it to the aesthetic of your phone. Yes, phones can have aesthetics. It’s like you’re trying to be old.
Here’s a vid of the secret! 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/ZlRIWWa0s7
— Patrick Kosmowski (@kosmowskipat) October 6, 2020
They’re also super easy to find and activate. The menu was originally hidden as an Easter Egg-like feature but given we’re living in an age where information is just always available, it didn’t stay hidden for long. To find the menu, all you need to do is go to the settings page in the app and do a looooooong down swipe. You’ll see some emojis appear above the menu, and when you scroll far enough a new menu with all the icons will drop down.
The feature is still being rolled out to all devices so give it a day or two if you’re not able to pull it off. It’s also seemingly only going to last for the rest of October before disappearing once again. Can’t have anything that causes long-term confusion about the branding of the business, right?
(Source: The Verge)