It’s been nearly six years since Instagram switched from a chronological feed to an algorithm feed — and a lot of people haven’t been happy about it. Rather than seeing all the posts and stories from their followed accounts, the algorithm feed forces people to see posts and stories based on how they used Instagram. It’s good for discovery (and seeing ads and posts from accounts you don’t follow, if you’re into that), but not necessarily good for keeping up friends, family and the other accounts you follow.
Well, this week Instagram is finally letting people switch back to a chronological feed — sort of.
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This week, the social media app introduced two new settings that change the way people can view their Home feeds. The first setting is called “Following,” which allows you to view your Home feed in chronological order; you’re going to see posts and stories by the accounts you follow in the order that they were posted.
The second is called “Favorites,” which is an even more concise feed populated by posts and stories from accounts that you have designated as a “favorite.” (You can add somebody as a “favorite” by clicking the “…” on the top-right of their post and selecting “Add to favorites” from the drop-down menu.)
To view either of the your “Following” or “Favorites” feeds, all you have to do is go to your Home feed, tap the large Instagram logo in the top-left corner and then select either “Following” or “Favorites” from the drop-down menu. You’ll then switch over to that selected feed.
There is a pretty annoying catch, however, and that’s that you can’t set either of these new feeds as your default feed. This means that whenever you open the Instagram app and you go to your Home feed, you’ll see the algorithm feed. If you want to see the “Following” or “Favorites” feeds, you’ll have to again tap the Instagram logo and select the feed you wish to view.