Instagram will start suggesting people you should BLOCK in genius new update
INSTAGRAM will soon recommend accounts you should block as part of a new update, according to reports.
Code hidden within the app suggests it will know if you've blocked someone on Facebook, and suggest you also bock them on Instagram.
Instagram is owned by Facebook, and the automated block list may be part of the firm's wider plan to merge its apps.
The upcoming feature was spotted by prolific leaker , who digs through the code of popular apps to find what they're working on.
"Instagram is working on a page where it'll show the suggested contacts to block," the tech guru tweeted last week.
That page will show "contacts we have blocked on Facebook so we can block them here too", he added.
The list of suggested accounts will be based on data gleamed from your other accounts on Facebook apps.
If you've blocked someone on Messenger, for instance, they will also appear on your suggested block list on Instagram.
Presumably, that person will have had to sign up to both accounts using the same email or username for Instagram to figure out they're linked.
According to Paluzzi, Instagram is still developing the feature, and it's unclear when it will be available to users, if ever.
He said Instagram will most likely add suggested block lists once the app's integration with Messenger is further along the line.
Facebook, which owns WhatsApp and Instagram, revealed plans to combine its social media apps into a single messaging service last year.
However, the California tech titan has hardly mentioned the scheme since.
Facebook's plan to merge its apps was revealed last year by the New York Times and later confirmed by Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg.
Slippery Zuck said in an earnings call in January 2019: "I can talk about messaging and the integration that we're thinking about.
"This is going to be a long-term project that I think will probably be to whatever extent we end up doing it in – a 2020 thing or beyond."
Instagram – the key facts
Here's what you need to know...
- Instagram is a social network for sharing photos and videos
- It was created back in October 2010 as an iPhone-exclusive app
- A separate version for Android devices was released 18 months later
- The app rose to popularity thanks to its filters system, which lets you quickly edit your photos with cool effects
- When it first launched, users could only post square 1:1 ratio images, but that rule was changed in 2015
- In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1billion in cash and stock
- In 2018, some analysts believe the app is worth closer to $100billion
- In October 2015, Instagram confirmed that more than 40billion photos had been uploaded to the app
- And in 2018, Instagram revealed that more than a billion people were using the app every month
The project is believed to involve "thousands of Facebook employees" working to merge the apps together.
Facebook Messenger, along with Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Instagram, will still exist as standalone apps.
But messaging functionality would be shared across them, so users on Instagram could text people on WhatsApp.
You could even message someone on Instagram without ever actually having an Instagram account.
The process is already underway. Messenger Rooms, an app unveiled in April, lets you host video calls with up to 50 people using Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.
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