Instagram Stories secretly adds new question feature

The Facebook-owned app is staying tight-lipped about the latest addition to its Stories feature

Anthony Cuthbertson

Monday 02 July 2018 11:39 BST

The latest feature to be added to Instagram allows people to ask questions through Stories (REUTERS)

A new Instagram feature will allow people to ask questions about other people's Stories, though the Facebook-owned app isn't telling anyone about it.

The photo-sharing app is yet to formally announce the new feature, however users from as far and wide as Indonesia and Italy have reported being able to make use of it.

Reports of the question-asking feature first surfaced on Android Police, which noted that open-ended questions had been added for some users alongside the existing yes/no polls and emoji sliders.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

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1/1111 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Hide and reorder filters

Filters are a core part of Instagram, but there are so many available it can be easy to get lost. You can change the order in which they appear, and even hide the ones you never use, to speed up your photo-sharing process. On the filters page, scroll to the end, tap Manage, then drag and drop the ones you want to reorder, and un-check the ones you want to hide.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Never miss a post

Instagram controversially ditched its reverse-chronological order feed for a new order determined by an algorithm, making it easy to completely miss some posts. To make sure you never miss a certain somebody’s updates, you can set up notification for them by visiting their profile, tapping the three dots in the top right-hand corner and selecting Turn On Post Notifications.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Eat less data

If you’re worried about how much of your mobile data Instagram saps, you can limit it by sacrificing the speed at which the photos and videos in your feed load. Go to your profile, tap the three dots in the top right corner, open Cellular Data Use and choose Use Less Data.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

See your Likes

It’s easy to lose track of your friends’ old posts on Instagram, but if you know you Liked it, you’ll be able to track it down easily. Just go to your profile, hit the three dots at the top and select Posts You’ve Liked. You can also save posts in a folder only you can see by tapping the bookmark icon underneath it. Take a look at everything you’ve bookmarked by tapping the same icon that sits near the top of your profile.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Find relevant hashtags

Everyone knows you can expand the reach of your posts by using a number of relevant hashtags, but what those are aren’t always glaringly obvious. You can easily find the right ones for you by typing a keyword into Instagram’s search bar, selecting a hashtag from the list and swiping along the Related row that appears at the top of the screen.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Clear your search history

Whatever your reasons are, you can clear your recent searches by going to your profile, hitting the three dots in the top right and selecting Clear Search History. To go a step further and hide your Suggested searches too, go to the search page, tap and hold the account you want to hide, and choose Hide from the pop-up window.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Hide photos you’re tagged in

Tagged photos on Instagram aren’t as prominent as they are on Facebook, but anyone can still browse through other people’s pictures of you by visiting your profile and tapping the photo of you icon. If you’re tagged in a picture you don’t want other people to see, go to your profile, hit the photos of you icon, tap the three dots at the top of the screen and choose Hide Photos.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Secure your account

Make your Instagram account much harder to hack by enabling two-factor authentication, a security feature that protects you even if your login details are stolen. Go to your profile, tap the three dots, open Two-Factor Authentication and toggle it on.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Share lots at once

If you want to upload a bunch of related pictures and videos without flooding everyone else’s feed, you can shared them all as one post. Hit the + icon, select Gallery, choose Select Multiple, pick out up to 10 of the pictures and clips you want, tap Next and reorder them by dragging and dropping.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Record hands-free

Instagram Stories has been a massive hit since it came out last year, but you might not know that you can record Stories clips without having to hold one of your digits on the record key. On the Stores screen, just swipe through the options at the bottom until you get to Hands-Free.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Edit posts after publishing

Most people know you can delete any of the images you’ve already posted, but not everyone is aware that you can also edit them. Instagram unfortunately doesn’t let you tinker with filters and effects, but you can change your original caption, tag people and update the location.

Those features had been added as a way of encouraging people to interact with other users' stories. But they also serve as a useful way of telling who pays attention to them, since anyone can see who has voted on their posts.

The latest feature comes less than a week after Instagram began rolling out a new lightweight version of its app called Instagram Lite.

The new Android app is just 1/55th of the size of the regular Instagram app and is aimed at users in emerging markets who may have limited data or storage space on their device.

Like with the new Stories feature, there was no major announcement for the launch of Instagram Lite and no details given on when a wider launch can be expected.

Another update to the feature appears to pin the Stories bar to the top of a person's news feed, meaning it will be almost impossible to ignore friends' Stories. Instagram did not respond to a request for comment on either feature.

Instagram founder and CEO Kevin Systrom introduces the new features (Instagram)

Both new Stories features come amid a spree of announcements for Instagram, which have included the introduction of group video chat, Story soundtracks and IGTV – a devoted video app the firm calls its "most exciting feature to date."

IGTV offers a place for users to enjoy longer content from celebrities like Kim Kardashian West and Selena Gomez.

The recent developments play into Instagram's combined strategy of keeping people hooked to the app while simultaneously growing its massive user base, which currently stands at over a billion people worldwide.

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