Tech

Instagram's new 'rage shake' feature enables error reporting

It’s just one of a number of new features the photo-sharing service has added recently.

Shutterstock

Have you ever scrolled through Instagram and run into an issue that was so frustrating, it inspired legitimate anger? Well, now there’s a feature that can remedy that. It’s called “rage shake,” and it will allow users to begin a troubleshooting process by, you’ve guessed it, shaking your phone. After shaking, a window will pop up where people can report an issue and then expand on the details of said issue.

“This [rage shake] will help us prioritize bugs and other things to fix in the Instagram app,” noted Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, in a short video he uploaded to his Twitter account. “And we appreciate the feedback, as colorful as it might be.”

Aside from “rage shake,” Mosseri highlighted another hidden gem on the platform called a “finally feature.” As the title implies, “finally features” are fixes that have been in demand and are now, at last, being implemented into the app. In this case, the feature in question happens to be carousel deletion, which lets users select an individual photo or video within a carousel post and then delete it.

“Rage shake” will be available to both iOS and Android users, while carousel deletion is limited to iOS users.

Active period— Both of these new features arrive on the heels of a number of tweaks that Instagram has made over the last month — Co-authored posts, desktop uploading, and linkable stories for all users are all new features that have recently been added.

While Facebook tries to break away from the negative perceptions of it (that stem from very real issues within the company), Instagram just seems to keep chugging along. By rebranding itself as Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook has clearly set its vision towards the future of digital interactions... and perhaps leaving some of its troubles in the past.

Facebook hasn’t seen the same sorts of changes, but at least Instagram is constantly trying to improve... and might open a troubleshooting screen if you throw your phone across the room in dispair when you accidentally tap on an ad you’ve mistaken for legitimate content.