Instagram is testing phone vibrations when you like posts

Layout from Instagram on iPhone 11 Pro (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

What you need to know

Instagram is testing a new vibration when users like posts.
The feature isn't live in any of Instagram's apps yet.
People already don't seem to like it.

Instagram is testing a new feature that will see phones vibrate when a user likes a post, according to a discovery by well-known reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong (via 9to5Mac).

Facebook already offers a similar feature and it appears it might make the jump to Instagram, too.

To clarify, I meant to say "haptic feedback",

the short pulse of vibration that’s aimed to give you the similar satisfaction and sensation when you give a like. It should fill users in the emotional void from hiding the like countTo clarify, I meant to say "haptic feedback",

the short pulse of vibration that’s aimed to give you the similar satisfaction and sensation when you give a like. It should fill users in the emotional void from hiding the like count— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) December 4, 2019 December 4, 2019

However, as with so many things, it seems the move isn't one that's being uniersally welcomed online. Looking through the responses to those tweets it's clear people don't want their phones to vibrate constantly. Multiple people hope that there's an option to enable and disable the feature and that seems like the most obvious course of action here. Whether that's additional work Instagram will want to put in is another matter, however.

Latest Videos From iMore

Apple's guidelines on using vibrations – also known as haptics – are clear. Don't over-use them

Avoid overusing a haptic. Sometimes a haptic can feel just right when experienced occasionally, but become tiresome when it's experienced frequently. In general, avoid designing an experience that yields extended or repetitive haptic feedback. Often, the best haptic experience is one that people may not be conscious of, but miss when it's turned off.

It's possible this feature will never ship, though. App developers test tons of things that don't make their way into final releases. Who knows, this might be another example of that and all those dissenting tweets will have been for nothing.

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.

Latest in Instagram