How to turn off Instagram’s new Instants feature and retract photos you accidentally shared

Yesterday, Instagram globally released a new feature called “Instants” that’s designed for sharing authentic, disappearing photos. While the Meta-owned social network billed Instants as a new format to share real-life moments as they’re happening, many users are looking for a way to turn off the feature, especially those who have ended up accidentally sending images to others, not fully understanding how the feature works. When you open up Instagram’s new Instants section for the first time by tapping the mini photo stack in the bottom-right corner of your inbox, the app opens up a brief introduction about the feature that informs users that Instants disappear, there’s no viewers list, and that reactions and replies are private. The app then quickly takes you through the process of viewing and reacting to Instants. Once you get to the camera, underneath it is a shutter button, and below that is a toggle that lets you choose between “Friends” and “Close Friends.” By default, it’s set to “Friends.” What Meta doesn’t immediately make users aware of is the fact that the moment you tap the shutter button, the photo that’s captured is automatically sent to everyone on your Friends list, unless you manually switch the setting to “Close Friends” beforehand. Image Credits: Instagram Since the process of sending an image isn’t clearly explained, many users have ended up accidentally sending a photo to others they didn’t intend to. …