【2019 Archives】

Instagram019 Archivesabout to give its users some time to think over that name change.

An automatic username lock feature has been discovered in the latest alpha version of Instagram’s Android application. The change, which is currently in testing, would give the previous owner of an Instagram handle up to 14 days to revert back to their old username after changing it.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The feature was discoveredby Jane Manchun Wong, a developer well known for reverse engineering apps in order to find unreleased features. Wong recently uncovered a slew of other features currently being tested by Instagram such as video co-watching, public collections, and direct messagevia Instagram for the web.

Wong pointed out how this new Instagram feature will also affect people who use “username grabber bots.” These bots basically track high-quality handles in case its owner changes usernames, allowing another user to grab the recently available name as soon as possible. Often, these usernames are squat on, unused, until its new owner can find a buyer for the handle on social media black markets.

According to Wong, who is completely unaffiliated with Instagram and its parent company Facebook, she received death threatsfrom Instagram username sellers after posting about the username locking feature.

It should be noted that unless a user decides to revert back to their old name within the grace period, the unused usernames would still eventually make its way back into the pool of names available to register.

The new feature would also not stop Instagram’s ongoing issues with hackers stealing accounts. Instagram users should turn on two-factor authentication to help avoid being hacked.

(Editor: {typename type="name"/})