If you’re tired of the random content popping up on your Instagram feed, you’ll soon have the opportunity to hit the reset button for a “fresh start.” Meta recently announced that it will be testing a new feature that will allow users to reset their Instagram algorithm, giving them the ability to clear recommendations on Explore, Reels, and Feed.

What does this mean?

Access to this new feature means no more recommendations from accounts you previously followed and no longer care about. This also means that your feed will be curated based on your current interests and even your recommended Reels or FYPs will be curated in sync with the “modern you” as opposed to “who you were.” The upcoming feature is essentially designed to give users more control over the content they see.

Meta shared in a blog post that the update primarily aims to create a safer, more positive, and age-appropriate experience for teens on Instagram, allowing their feeds to evolve based on their changing interests. The company emphasized that while this feature is particularly useful for teenage users, it is not limited to a particular age group. This is similar to the recommendations refresh feature already offered by TikTok, which launched its own version for the “For You” feed last year.

The update will allow users to clear recommendations on all key sections of Instagram and view their next list, removing accounts whose content they no longer wish to see. Even though recommendations will be reset, Instagram will still adjust the feed over time based on interactions, ensuring it reflects the user’s interests. The reset feature can’t be undone, but it gives users the ability to shape their experience more intentionally.

Meta has also introduced additional safety measures for teens, including more restrictive settings on who can interact with their accounts and increased control over what appears in their Explore and Reels sections. The feature is part of a broader effort to protect younger users from potentially harmful content on the platform, as Meta continues to face scrutiny over Instagram’s impact on the mental health of young people.

Response from Internet users

While many users responded positively to this feature, others criticized it as unimpressive, arguing that bigger changes are needed within the app, such as the reintroduction of timeline feeds. “How about just going back to chronological order so we can see which accounts we actually follow and leave suggested posts on the explore page,” said one supporter of the feature. Another said: “Fix the timeline now. No one wants to see posts from only a fraction of the accounts they follow, which is literally why they follow the accounts they follow. Nobody likes the non-consecutive position structure either; I don’t want to see something from 5 days ago at this point. Another comment that echoed this sentiment was: “Can we please see content from people we follow without having to jump through hoops?” Suggestions should just appear in the Discover tab when we select them, not in our main feed.

While users already have some control over their recommendations thanks to the ability to mark content as “interested” or “not interested”, many internet users have called for a return to the original algorithm which was very selective – n ‘displaying only the posts of those you follow. in chronological order. While people are hoping for a renewal of this feature, the new reset feature is currently in the testing phase and is expected to roll out globally soon.