Business Insider
Instagram is one of the hottest social networks at the moment having announced that over 400 million people use the service (up from 300m in December 2014), many of whom are outside the United States.
The app is designed simply and is optimised for social connections, displaying all of the posts from people you follow in reverse-chronological order.
It’s easy to figure out the basics like cropping a photo or choosing a filter to make it look better.
But while the app’s interface is simple to use, there are features which are hidden away that can enhance the overall experience. Here’s how to find them.
You can hide the photo filters if you don’t like using them.
Photo filters are what made Instagram famous but as camera quality has improved users have become more and more adverse to sticking “X-PRO II” over a photo and calling it a day.
Luckily, Instagram has added the ability to hide filters. Simply open a photo ready to edit, scroll all the way to the right in the filters tab and tap “Manage.” From here, filters can easily be ticked or unticked depending on whether you want to see them.
Hide all the really bad photos of you that other people are tagging.
Anyone who keeps a relatively polished Instagram account knows the pain of being tagged in a bad photo that then haunts your account whenever anyone clicks through to the “Photos of You” tab.
To hide a tagged photo, go to the “Photos of You” tab, select the photo, reveal the tags (by tapping once on the image), tap your name and select “Hide from My Profile” before clicking “Finished.”
See what your friends are liking.
Have you ever wondered what kind of photos the people you follow are liking? Instagram has a built in feature, located in the “Activity” tab, that allows a clear view of what people are liking and when.
Simply go to “Activity” and scroll left to the “Following” tab.
See all the photos you’ve liked in the past.
Desperately searching for a photo is a pain, especially when you just know that it can’t be far down the feed because you liked it earlier. Instagram feels this pain and has built in a “Photos You’ve Liked” feature that is tucked away in Settings, accessed via the cog in the top-right corner of the Profile page.
Get notifications when your favourite accounts post a new photo.
We all have our own Instagram obsessions, accounts that we just can’t stop checking because the photos are just that good. However, obsessively checking an account can feel weird. Thankfully, Instagram includes a feature that sends you a notification whenever they post.
Head to the profile in question, tap the three dots in the top left corner and select “Turn on Post Notifications.” It’s that simple.
Most people forget about the direct messaging part of Instagram …
Instagram Direct is, essentially, the private messaging function of the social network — and it goes relatively unused. According to Facebook, 85 milion people use Direct per month out of a total 400 million.
Direct allows the sender to add all of the associated filters and tweaks of a public post but to one individual. To access Direct, click the inbox icon in the top left of the main feed.
… and you can send direct messages to friends without anyone else seeing.
Forwarding someone else’s photos used to involve a screenshot in another a chat app. Instagram recently unveiled a new feature that allows the sending of someone’s photos — and they don’t even know you’ve done it.
To send a photo, click the arrow button (next to “Like” and “Comment”), select the recipient, type a message and hit send.
If you know any other cool, hidden or little-known ways of using Instagram, send an email to mslaterrobins@businessinsider.com.
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