Oh God What Did They Just Do To Instagram [Updated]

Instagram has given some users a new way to stalk everyone in their feeds: sideways.

Instead of the vertical feed we’ve all become accustomed to, some users can now either tap or swipe left or right—much like how you would scroll through Stories. Now, scrolling down will just bring up comments, while viewing your DMs, profile, search, and notifications appear to remain the same. While not everyone has the updated interface, it appears to be rolling out pretty widely if Twitter losing its mind is any indication.

NO I JUST TURNED OFF UPDATES HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME @INSTAGRAM I HOPE YOUR SHARES DIE IN A FIRE pic.twitter.com/4t90fXUxyx

— Emma Blackery (@emmablackery) December 27, 2018

We reached out to Instagram for more information, but did not receive an immediate response.

In our brief time with the new swipe interface… let’s just say we are not fans. The office consensus is that it is visually jarring.Initially, it seemed like the update was meant to prioritise stories, but when you swipe through your feed the interface hides the Stories bar automatically while expanding posts. And strangely, in my experience, the change seemed to de-prioritise posts from friends, while sponsored posts, celebrities, and “influencers” got more screen time.

We’ll report back if and when we hear back from Instagram, but in the meantime, we can all cry together. At least we all know who’s to blame.

Update 12/27/2018 11:17 AM: Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a tweet that the rollout was a small test that rolled out to more people than intended. It’s since been rolled back. You can get your old feed if you close and restart the app.

Sorry about that, this was supposed to be a very small test but we went broader than we anticipated. ????

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) December 27, 2018