What you need to know
- Instagram is testing a new feature that will give users more information about Instagram outages and other technical issues.
- The test will be limited to users in the U.S. and will go on for the next few months.
- Instagram has also announced a new "Account Status" tool to allow users to see everything that's happening with their account and content distribution.
Instagram has started testing a new feature that will tell you "when something goes wrong on Instagram. The test will be limited to the U.S. and could go on for the next few months. Instagram might roll out the experiment more widely "if it makes sense to."
The next time Instagram experiences issues, you will receive a notification in your Activity Feed with details about the outage or technical issue. You'll also be notified once the issue has been resolved. However, Instagram warns that it won't be sending a notification each time there is an outage. Notifications will be sent to users only when it thinks if they could help make things clearer for its users.
Instagram is also rolling out a new tool called Account Status, a "one-stop shop to see what's happening with your account and content distribution." Initially, users will only be able to know whether their account is at risk of being disabled from the Account Status page.
In the coming months, Instagram plans to add more information to the tool, including how their content is being distributed and recommended across the platform. Users will also be able to submit an appeal from the Account Status page by hitting "Request a Review." More details about these new features will be shared over time.
Instagram, along with Facebook's best Android apps, was down for nearly seven hours on Monday, October 4. Facebook blamed the outage on faulty "configuration changes" to the routers coordinating network traffic between its various data centers. Instagram and other Facebook services experienced another, albeit smaller, outage on October 8.
