Instagram may let users leave Close Friends lists

Instagram is developing a feature that would allow users to remove themselves from someone else’s Close Friends list. Meta confirmed the development of the feature to TechCrunch on Friday, though the company noted that the project is still in its early stages and is not being tested publicly yet. Currently, the social network’s Close Friends feature lets users share Stories, Reels, and posts with a select group of people, rather than their entire follower base. This allows for more private sharing on the platform, but currently lacks an opt-out mechanism for the recipients. While the feature might soon offer users more control over their social circles, Meta has not confirmed a public release date.

The internal prototype was first spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi, a reverse engineer who analyzes software to discover hidden or unreleased functionality. According to a screenshot shared by Paluzzi, Meta will warn users that if they leave a Close Friends list, they won’t be able to see that person’s Close Friends content unless that person adds them back to their list. Since the feature’s launch in 2018, users have been unable to remove themselves from someone else’s Close Friends list, meaning they have had to rely on the creator of the list to make any changes. As with other internal prototypes, it remains unknown when or if Instagram plans to release the feature publicly.

This potential update mirrors a similar capability on Snapchat, which already allows its users to remove themselves from private stories. The development of this opt-out feature coincides with Meta’s broader plans to test new subscriptions. Meta plans to test these new subscriptions to give people access to exclusive features across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. While Meta has not shared specific details about what these subscriptions will include, the company stated that the upcoming subscriptions are intended to offer special features and more control over sharing while keeping core experiences free. This subscription testing represents a broader effort by Meta to offer users special features and more control over how they share and connect across its suite of applications.

Why it matters

This feature addresses a long-standing limitation of the Close Friends tool, which has prevented users from opting out of private lists since its 2018 introduction.