Instagram is developing a feature that will allow users to remove themselves from someone’s “Close Friends” list, Meta told TechCrunch on Friday. The company says the feature is still in its early stages and has not been tested publicly.
The social network Close Friend The feature allows users to share Stories, Reels, and posts with a select group of people, rather than their entire follower base. Since the feature’s launch in 2018, users have not been able to remove themselves from someone else’s Close Friends list.
The internal prototype was first seen by the reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzziwhich specializes in finding unreleased features while they are still in development.
According to a screenshot shared by Paluzzi, Meta will warn users that if they leave the Close Friends list, they will not be able to see the contents of that person’s Close Friends unless that person adds them to their list.
While some people will undoubtedly feel resentful when others leave their Close Friends list, the feature is likely a good addition for those who prefer not to be included in some people’s lists.
It is worth noting that Snapchat, one of the main competitors of Instagram, already allows its users to remove themselves from a person’s private story – a similar feature.
As with other internal prototypes, it is unknown when or if Instagram plans to release the feature to the public.
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Apart from the Close Friends updates, Instagram is also working on other new features. Meta told TechCrunch earlier this week that it plans to test new subscriptions which gives people access to exclusive features on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
While Meta did not share details about what specific features these subscriptions will include, Paluzzi shared that a premium Instagram subscription will allow users to create unlimited lists of audiences, see which followers are unfollowing them, and see Stories that the poster doesn’t know about.
Meta says its goal with future subscriptions is to give users access to special features and more control over how they share and connect, while keeping the core experiences free. The company doesn’t appear to be locked into one strategy, as it plans to test different subscription features and bundles with each app subscription offering a different set of exclusive features.







