Instagram seems to be testing a new design that hides how many likes a photo has, shared Jane Manchun Wong, a computer science major at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
The new prototype app design hides the like count to the audience of a photo, and Wong goes on to reveal that while combing through the code, she found a statement in the app that read, "We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get." The prototype design would only display a photo's like count to the person who posted the photo, according to The Verge, who also received a statement from Instagram. The app maintained “We’re not testing this at the moment, but exploring ways to reduce pressure on Instagram is something we’re always thinking about.”
If the design prototype is officially rolled out, it could be as a response to public discourse around unhealthy social media consumption habits. Apple has also brought this topic to the forefront by building app tracking into its iOS.
In the same series of tweets that she revealed the app design that hides likes, Wong also mentions that "Instagram is testing different styles for Lyrics, possibly as stickers."
Wong reverse-engineers some of the biggest social media apps like Facebook and Snapchat, and she was the first to unveil that the Facebook Messenger app was testing an “unsend message” option. Since then, her Twitter has become a fixture in the tech community.
Stay posted for updates as they arrive.
