Instagram has quietly rolled out a small tweak to their picture display, as reported by Matt Navarra. If a photo has any sort of filter applied to it, the app will inform its users via a small textbox saying "made with effects".
Well, what more can be said about this new feature? It's rather self explanatory in nature, and only goes on to establish knowledge that Instagram's entire userbase is already aware of. The app is a literal hub for users that like touching up photos before posting them online. Literal models have made their entire careers off of the platforms; case and point, Lucky Blue Smith.
What makes this feature even more limited in capacity is that it can seemingly only nail down filters applied by the app itself. Therefore, using any third party touch-up and editing tools all such as Snapseed means that Instagram won't identify the picture as having gone through a glow up. However, there's more to this new addition than just highlighting the use of a filter.
Instagram's intentions with this are not just to identify filter usage, but also make them more accessible for users. If an individual taps on the text box, they get a pop-up that both identifies the filter being used, and asks users if they'd wish to try it out for themselves. Thus, if a user's looking to try out a snappy filter they just came across, they no longer have to actively go search for it filter by filter.
While the benefit of acquiring an easy way of trying out trendy filters is rather nice, it could potentially be off-set by the community's reaction to such a tweak. Calling out celebrities and other such influencers for using filters in order to "enhance" their looks is almost a daily excursion for the internet, with comments ranging from mild chiding to upsettingly inviting body dysmorphia. This dark part of the userbase, small as it may be, will have a literal field day when they find out a feature that supports their claims, even if the filter's as obvious as a simple black and white application. Internet trolls never really rest, do they?
Honestly, the minute nature of this new development paired with Instagram having given no information about it makes the release hard to pin down. All that can be speculated at is that while it has been a while, the feature not showing up for all users means that it's still available in limited access. Such edits should be rolling around soon for all other regions and devices too.
Read next: Instagram Brings New, More Accessible Stories Format To Its Desktop Interface
Well, what more can be said about this new feature? It's rather self explanatory in nature, and only goes on to establish knowledge that Instagram's entire userbase is already aware of. The app is a literal hub for users that like touching up photos before posting them online. Literal models have made their entire careers off of the platforms; case and point, Lucky Blue Smith.
What makes this feature even more limited in capacity is that it can seemingly only nail down filters applied by the app itself. Therefore, using any third party touch-up and editing tools all such as Snapseed means that Instagram won't identify the picture as having gone through a glow up. However, there's more to this new addition than just highlighting the use of a filter.
Instagram's intentions with this are not just to identify filter usage, but also make them more accessible for users. If an individual taps on the text box, they get a pop-up that both identifies the filter being used, and asks users if they'd wish to try it out for themselves. Thus, if a user's looking to try out a snappy filter they just came across, they no longer have to actively go search for it filter by filter.
While the benefit of acquiring an easy way of trying out trendy filters is rather nice, it could potentially be off-set by the community's reaction to such a tweak. Calling out celebrities and other such influencers for using filters in order to "enhance" their looks is almost a daily excursion for the internet, with comments ranging from mild chiding to upsettingly inviting body dysmorphia. This dark part of the userbase, small as it may be, will have a literal field day when they find out a feature that supports their claims, even if the filter's as obvious as a simple black and white application. Internet trolls never really rest, do they?
Honestly, the minute nature of this new development paired with Instagram having given no information about it makes the release hard to pin down. All that can be speculated at is that while it has been a while, the feature not showing up for all users means that it's still available in limited access. Such edits should be rolling around soon for all other regions and devices too.
Read next: Instagram Brings New, More Accessible Stories Format To Its Desktop Interface
