Instagram Begins Testing New Procedures To Help Users Regain Access To Hacked Accounts

Instagram is finally addressing a huge problem on its platform: hacked accounts.

The company says it is making a series of changes that will make it easier for people to regain access to a hacked account. The update comes almost a year after Mashable first reported that a wave of bizarre hacks had hit Instagram users, leaving them little recourse to get their accounts back.

With the newly announced changes, which are currently being tested ahead of a wider rollout, Instagram will allow users to access its account recovery tools directly in the app, even if a hacker has changed their account information. So when a person is unable to login to an account, Instagram will prompt users to enter information associated with your account like your email address or phone number. (Users can also access this via “need more help” in the app’s login screen.)

Here’s what you have to do in case your account gets hacked:

• Open the Instagram app, and go to the login page.
• Tap on ‘Need more help’.
• Enter the original email address and phone number you used with your account.
• Instagram will send a six-digit unique code to that email address and number. Enter the code to recover your account.

According to Motherboard, In addition to this, it’ll prevent hackers from using the code sent to you from another device. Plus, it’ll also put a lockdown on the user name for a definitive period after any changes to the account – even if you’ve made the changes yourself. The username lockdown feature is currently available for Android users, and it’s rolling out gradually to iOS users.