Instagram commits to user experience by removing the annoying 'rug pull' feature

Instagram logo on a phone screen
(Image credit: Jay Bonggolto / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Instagram Head Adam Mosseri has revealed an interesting new feature on Instagram, which many unknowingly considered a bug.
  • When an average user opens Instagram, the annoying refresh of already-preloaded video on the feed is a feature dubbed “rug pull.”
  • Mosseri shared it, and as many of the audience members found the feature “really annoying, ” the company has now chosen to remove it entirely.

If you are an avid Instagram user, you would have experienced the annoying refresh whenever you open the app and look at a preloaded video, which goes away every time you open the app. While it looks like some kind of bug, Instagram Head notes it isn’t, and however, the feature is being pulled off.

In a recent AMA Story (via The Verge) on the social media platform, Instagram Head Adam Mosseri indicates that the said feature was internally called “rug pull.” And it was featured “because we were trying to load new content, and it was taking a while, so we showed you something that was already downloaded in the meantime, and it is generally good for engagement, ” said Mosseri in the respective story.

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He further acknowledged that it was really annoying for many. Hence, Instagram has decided to stop doing it, even though average users wouldn’t immediately notice it.

Mosseri has further noted that a little bit of engagement has been affected in the process, although it happens to be a good riddance. It is interesting to know it wasn’t a bug after all but rather an incorporated feature by the Meta-owned platform. The app experience is believed to be much better from now on, presumably for both Android phone and iOS handset holders.

On the other hand, Instagram has recently added a new feature for users who are music enthusiasts. Music plays a key role as it can be added to posts, stories, reels, and whatnot. Music lovers who are also on Spotify can directly save the audio track to their respective Spotify accounts when they listen to a song on Instagram.

For example, if they hear a song attached to the reel, clicking on the audio track will feature a new Spotify Add button. Tapping on it will quickly save to the linked Spotify account. This is indeed a handy feature, as finding music can be quite easy, which otherwise would have been a cumbersome process.

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Meanwhile, early this month, Mosseri, who also leads Threads, announced that the platform, which was announced as a rival to X (formerly Twitter), has crossed 275 million monthly active users. He further stated that there is much more to be improved and fixed regarding the microblogging site.

Vishnu Sarangapurkar
News Writer

Vishnu is a freelance news writer for Android Central. Since 2018, he has written about consumer technology, especially smartphones, computers, and every other gizmo connected to the internet. When he is not at the keyboard, you can find him on a long drive or lounging on the couch binge-watching a crime series.

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