What you need to know
- Instagram is working to resolve a problem with link previews in iMessage.
- A problem with request forwarding means links send through the platform don't show up properly.
Instagram says it is working to fix a problem with link previews not showing up properly in iMessage.
From Mashable:
Have you noticed recently that Instagram links are not generating previews when sent through iMessage? I noticed this irritation a few months ago, and people have been complaining about it on Reddit, too. Instead, all that appears when you try to send an Instagram post to someone is the ugly Instagram URL, and users have to click through to see the post. The horror!It wasn't always this way — Instagram previews used to work fine. The particularly weird thing about this issue is that Instagram previews only seem to cause an issue in iMessage, not when sent through other platforms, like Slack. And links from other websites, like Twitter or Google, preview fine when sent through iMessage.
Mashable says it reached out to Instagram that has confirmed a bug with link previews:
"This issue is due to a bug, and we are actively working to resolve Instagram link previews in iMessage so that they load normally," an Instagram spokesperson said over email.
As confirmed by security duo Mysk, network traffic shows that when you send and Instagram link through iMessage, iMessage tries to open the link to look for the metadata and generate a preview, but Instagram forwards the requests to the login page, which has no metadata for link previews, meaning nothing shows up.
Instagram didn't give a time frame for the fix, but rest assured one is on the way.
