Instagram has finally added a feature that is beyond overdue: the ability to mute people without unfollowing them.
Lets face it, we’ve all been in this position. Perhaps you follow a relative or friend who does nothing but post hundreds of pictures about different types of beer, except you hate beer.
Now you can’t unfollow them because of course you can’t, you’re not a mean person. Thankfully though you can now mute them, and they’ll be none the wiser.
How it works is really simple. If you want to mute a person simply tap the ... in the top right-hand corner of either their profile or by a specific post.
You’ll then see the option to ‘Mute’ them below the ‘Unfollow’ button. Once you tap on that you’ll be able to either mute just their posts or mute both their posts and Stories as well.
The person won’t know they’ve been muted and technically you’ll still be following them which means that if you do want to see what they’re posting you can simply access their profile from the Search menu.
It’s a small feature, but a small feature that will make a big difference.
Instagram also recently confirmed that it was working on a brand-new feature to help its users better see how much they’ve been using the app.
It’s called Unique Insights and was first spotted hidden within the actual code for the Android version of the app. Since it was first reported on by Tech Crunch, Instagram’s CEO has actually confirmed in a series of tweets that the company is working on the feature.
We don’t know when the feature will be going live exactly but expect it to be within the next few months.
For now you can expect the mute button to start appearing over the next few days as the company rolls it out across the globe.