It has been over a decade since I started using social media regularly. My journey began with Orkut, then Facebook, and finally, my poison in recent years, has been Instagram. I am not even remotely proud to admit that social media has become a part of my daily life and contributing to my screen time. Part of the blame goes to the sinking costs of the modern internet and affordable smartphones; my regular dose of dopamine-inducing content isn’t far away.
Instagram has managed to stay among the top dogs in the game by developing captivating features that keep me glued to its app. But the truth is that I will not stop using Instagram anytime soon. And the platform has some good features that improve my zombie scrolling experience.
That said, parts of Instagram need some changes to become even more useful. Here are some new features and changes Instagram can add to its platform to improve user experience. I don"t know if companies read such posts, but one of the features I requested from Apple ended up in iOS 18 this year.
Make Collections more useful
If I could name one Instagram feature I can’t live without, it’s Collections. Those who like to keep their digital content organized will surely love it. It lets you save the posts, reels, and audio you come across on Instagram so you can access them later. I am so invested in it, that if Instagram asks me to pick one between Collections and the ability to set my profile picture, I would choose the former.
But the sad part is that Instagram isn’t doing enough justice to the feature; for instance, it’s tucked away behind several clicks on the profile page. Instagram should offer easy access to Collections by adding a button at the top of the home page before the heart-shaped notifications button.
I have 20+ folders in the Collections section to sort content into various categories. The posts related to movies go in one folder, sad quotes in another, and so on. Here, a search bar in the Collections user interface is something I crave, because finding the correct folder in the long list will become quicker, especially in the picker UI that shows up when you bookmark a new post or reel.
When you’re inside a particular Collections folder, you’ll find that the app loads content as you scroll down. It could be my preference, but Instagram should add a “Scroll to bottom” option in the collections folder, which can help me find posts I saved months or maybe years ago.
Generative AI prompts to optimize Instagram feed
Whether we want it or not, more AI will come into our lives. Meta and Instagram have been adding AI features quite often. It goes without saying that the Instagram algorithm that feeds content to you is powered by artificial intelligence. However, we have seen how AI can mess things up while its makers face public embarrassment.
Recently, Instagram rolled out a new feature that lets you reset your recommendations and take a fresh start. But wouldn’t it be better if the company gave us more control over AI and our content recommendations?
I mean, if you’re going to do something wrong, at least do it right. Instagram should add a feature that lets me create generative AI prompts for the content recommendation algorithm. For instance, if I could command Instagram: “Show me dark memes for a week” or “Don’t show me posts related to politics for a month.”
I might even consider paying for Instagram every month if such a feature exists someday.
Updated audio library for creating Reels and Stories
If you ever want to test your patience, try using the audio library on Instagram. The audio library shows up when you create a new Reel, Story, or post and tap the Music button. It offers a massive catalog of songs, background scores, and audio effects you can add to your content without worrying about copyright strikes.
That’s because Instagram has already licensed all the music in its sound collection. However, Instagram’s audio library interface is in dire need of improvement; it"s buggy and super annoying to use.
When you use the audio library, you either pick a song from the “For You” recommendations, from the “Saved” section, or use the search bar to find the one you want. You can press the small play button against each song to hear it or tap on its name to open a user interface where you can slide to adjust the audio clip you want to add.
This is where things get annoying. When tapping the play button, Instagram previously used to play the exact clip of the audio it would add to the content. It has since updated the button to play the song from the start. You’ll have to tap on its name to hear the exact clip.
So, if you picked one song and didn’t like it, you can’t just press another button to jump to the next/previous song on the list. You must type your query in the search bar again and tap on the new song you want to try. It doesn’t seem like a task, but try it with 15 different songs, and you’ll see yourself scratching your head and cursing Instagram.
The problem here is that the audio library doesn’t remember the query you typed in the search bar or the scrolling position of the song you added. It is a careless move from one of the biggest social media platforms.
Instagram should give memory to the search bar and add a next/previous button in the UI that people can use to switch between songs. The Saved section in the audio library should include "original audio" music saved in the Collections.
Offline mode
There are days when you have to catch long-haul flights to work or vacation. Modern flights offer entertainment options onboard, and I usually download my share of movies and TV shows that last throughout the flight.
But what else can you do? Scroll through social media. Forget it because flight internet is yet to become cheap. What would be a better opportunity for Instagram to add an offline mode to its app. The feature can preload a few hours of content you can watch during your flight. Any likes, bookmarks, comments, and shares can be saved locally and synced to the cloud when the device is back online.
It’s not a moonshot, and Instagram doesn’t need to care about storage space, either. YouTube offers smart offline downloads, and modern smartphones have massive storage chips.
Sort unread messages
Some people get many DMs on Instagram (read memes), and sometimes, they might be too busy to respond immediately. A possible consequence is the unread message might be buried under the pile of DMs. Instagram and Meta can fix this by adding an unread messages filter like WhatsApp.
Meme mode (or whatever you call it)
Speaking of memes, one of my personal needs is to find a way to deal with the countless memes and reels some of our beloved friends send us daily. I appreciate the effort, but the dude needs to cut some slack on the daily spamming.
There is no easy way to jump between multiple reels in direct messages. You have to open each of them one by one. It could be my personal problem, but it would be better if Instagram allowed us to jump to the next/previous reel message by swiping up/down on the screen.
Features I wanted, but got added already
One thing that was initially on my list was a separate tab for Broadcast channels in DMs, but Instagram has already added it. I also hoped that adding emoji reactions to reels and posts shared in DMs would become easier, and Instagram has done it partly. Instagram should add frequently used emoji reactions in the space next to a reel or image shared in the DMs for quick access.
These are some features and changes Instagram should add to its app in future updates, preferably in 2025. If you want to add any suggestions, feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments.