Instagram is testing giving people three feed sorting options including chronological

Instagram logo on phone (Image credit: Joe Maring / iMore)

What you need to know

Instagram is testing a change that will give people more control over their feeds.
Home, Favorites, and Following views are now available to some people.
Instagram users around the world should see the changes kick in during the first half of this year.

Image-based social network Instagram is testing a change that gives users the option of three different feed sorting options, two of which will display content in chronological order rather than use an algorithm.

Announced by Instagram head Adam Mosseri via Twitter, the move will give people three different options when browsing their feeds; Home, Favorites, and Following. The last two will show content in chronological order, whereas the Home feed will use Instagram's algorithm to try and surface content that the social network thinks people will be interested in.

You can watch a video from Mosseri that explains the new changes in more detail below.

Testing Feed Changes 👀

We’re starting to test the ability to switch between three different views on your home screen (two of which would give you the option to see posts in chronological order):
- Home
- Favorites
- Following

We hope to launch these soon. More to come. ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/9zvB85aPSpTesting Feed Changes 👀

We’re starting to test the ability to switch between three different views on your home screen (two of which would give you the option to see posts in chronological order):
- Home
- Favorites
- Following

We hope to launch these soon. More to come. ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/9zvB85aPSp— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) January 5, 2022 January 5, 2022

These changes are now available to some people across Instagram, although I'm not seeing it myself. More people will apparently get the options in the coming weeks, while the entire platform should see them arrive in the first half of 2022.

Instagram is undoubtedly one of the best iPhone apps for sharing and browsing photos and videos from people around the world, although it isn't without its problems. Some would prefer that Instagram simply show content in chronological order, something this change does facilitate.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.

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