Instagram has created a ‘recently deleted’ folder to hold deleted posts, stories, IGTV posts and Reels for a period of thirty days after deleting. This feature will soon be available in new updates of its app for Android and iOS. This comes after innovations like reels and IGTV which allow users to post long videos. The ‘recently deleted’ folder gives users the opportunity to keep and restore posts, stories, reels and IGTV posts within 30 days. Smartphones have an inbuilt feature popularly known as ‘trash’ where deleted photos stay for 30 days and photos can be restored within this time frame. Instagram’s ‘recently deleted’ feature is exactly like the ‘trash’ feature on smartphones. Whatever is saved on the ‘recently deleted’ folder can only be seen by the user and is not visible to other Instagram users.
The major advantage of the ‘recently deleted’ feature is that it serves as a safeguard. Accounts that are targeted by hackers who eventually delete posts of hacked accounts before the owners can recover their accounts, can restore all their posts with engagements intact. This feature saves users and businesses on the platform from losing their presence and starting all over when they lose their accounts to hackers. In other words, if it happens that you lose your account to hackers and they delete your posts, you can still regain every deleted content as long as you recover your account within the thirty days period. Also, if you delete a post, instead of losing it totally, it goes to this folder. If you change your mind later, you can easily restore without losing your likes, comments, shares and promotions.
Instagram will ask users to verify their identity when trying to restore deleted posts or totally remove them. Thus, hackers will not be able to permanently delete posts from stolen accounts. Verification would be requested via text or email when restoring or permanently deleting content. This serves as an additional way to protect accounts and their contents.
When users get hacked and hackers clear out posts, access to deleted posts is not immediately granted. Users can use this period to seek support from Instagram and recover their accounts without totally losing everything. The ‘recently deleted’ feature promises to come in useful and save users the troubles that arise from losing their account or wanting to recover deleted content which was a problem in the past.
