Instagram introduces Dark Mode on Android and iOS, removes 'Following' tab from its platform

Instagram has introduced the much-awaited Dark mode feature on its iOS and Android apps. The company has started rolling out the feature and should be available soon for all its users. Instagram has also removed the ‘Following’ tab from the app.

Dark Mode has been one of the most anticipated features on Instagram. The feature works in sync with the system-wide dark mode feature. This means that users do not need to toggle the switch to enable dark mode on Instagram specifically. 

For the iOS app, users can enable the system-wide dark mode on iOS 13. On Android, users can enable dark mode on Instagram using the Android 10’s system-wide dark mode feature. In case you are not on Android 10, custom skins that support the feature, too, can activate dark mode on Instagram.

The Facebook-owned app has also removed the ‘Following’ tab from its Activity feed. The ‘Following’ tab showed activities performed by the people a user followed. The feature was infamous as a tool for stalking other users.

Instagram’s head of product Vishal Shah told Buzzfeed that the feature was removed as it wasn’t widely used. “People didn’t always know that their activity is surfacing, so you have a case where it’s not serving the use case you built it for, but it’s also causing people to be surprised when their activity is showing up.”

The company recently launched a new app called Threads. The app works similarly to the ‘Close Friends’ feature on Instagram. Threads would allow users to stay connected with their close friends to share personal moments directly through the app. The app is primarily useful for sending and receiving photos and videos apart from having conversations. Threads from Instagram could be Facebook’s next move to take on Snapchat.