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Instagram Launches Account Switching On iOS and Android (google.com)

Posted by yaelk on from the whats-new-on-instagram dept.

Today, Instagram announced that users will be able to switch between up to five different accounts when using the app on iOS and Android. This new feature will be available later this week, when users download version 7.15 of the app. According to a blog post from the company, "Go to your profile settings to add an additional account. From there, tap your username at the top of your profile to switch between accounts. Once you have multiple accounts added, you'll see your profile photo appear in places throughout the app so you can always tell which one you're using at the moment."

29 comments

  1. Mod up if you don't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Never used Instagram, never will.

    1. Re:Mod up if you don't care by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Not only have I never used it, I don't think I've ever used an app like it? Maybe I'm missing something? I probably am... I don't use a whole lot of apps. (Sorry App Guy!®)

      So... Umm... I don't really use apps but why, exactly, do I need permission to use multiple accounts? Shouldn't I be able to login and logout of the thing as much as I want and to use any damned (authorized) account on it that I please? Why is there even a limit, anyhow?

      I dunno, it seems pretty stupid to me. It's none of their damned business if I use more than one account or if someone else uses my phone to do whatever it is people do on that site. Given the name, I'm going to speculate that whatever it is that people do there really is insignificant and if multiple parties use the same application it's irrelevant. So long as nobody's violating any sort of multiple username per person then whose damned business is it anyhow?

      Then again, maybe that's why I never got into apps? The idea of something you can log into but not out of is confusing to this old man.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  2. Accounts are for LUDDITES. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Modern app appers use multiple apps by apping multiple APPS, not LUDDITE accounts!

    Apps!

  3. News that Matters????? by mschiller · · Score: 1

    Seriously???

    1) It's Instagram which is about as relevant as Facebook.
    2) It's multiple accounts? Seriously? A basic app feature is news that matters??
    3) It's Instagram.. How many Slashdot users use Instagram? 10? 100?

    Slashdot it what's starting to not matter anymore....

    1. Re:News that Matters????? by sims+2 · · Score: 1

      Ive never used instagram.

      But in the past if I needed to use multiple accounts on ios apps I just installed 2 copies of the app so I could have both signed in. (jailbreak required)

      --
      Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    2. Re:News that Matters????? by The+Good+Reverend · · Score: 3, Funny

      Thank goodness you took time from your busy schedule to post on a topic you don't care about. Now everyone knows, via your post on the internet, that this topic isn't worth posting about.

    3. Re:News that Matters????? by sims+2 · · Score: 1

      Lots of other apps don't support fast user switching so It's an improvement. But at the same time it's probably a pita. Ever signed into google on a shared computer? After signing out you still get to back to the login screen to remove your account from the login page.

      I don't always want my login info saved.

      --
      Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    4. Re:News that Matters????? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is something newsworthy about this, and it is the fast user switching. Most apps that make it hard to have multiple accounts do so by design. There are ways to get Dropbox, for instance, to run multiple instances, but it's not easy or obvious (it requires a shell script or other things beyond grandma's ability). Most companies want one person to have one account with a real name and real data: it makes it easier to market the aggregate user data as an authentic representation of an advertiser's audience. Plus, with accounts tied to identities in some way and restricted to one account per individual, storage needs are lessened or pay-to-use caps are hit earlier (cf. Dropbox).

      The news here is that Instagram figured out that people want to use multiple personas, and they don't have a problem with it. In fact, they just made it easier for people, which will make sense with their users. They're treating their users as users and not as product. That's news, because you don't see it much these days.

    5. Re:News that Matters????? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Thank goodness you took time from your busy schedule to post on a topic you don't care about. Now everyone knows, via your post on the internet, that this topic isn't worth posting about.

      A complaint is a gift.

      And your complaint about a complaint leads me to say:

      Yo dawg, we hear you like complaining about complaints, so we complained and got a complainer container so you can complain while complaining about complaint complaints.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    6. Re: News that Matters????? by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 1

      Not everyone is you and there are people who use these services to market themselves or their company. You could argue it is all fluff, but if it gets the necessary attention and business, that's what matters in the end.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    7. Re:News that Matters????? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      I suspect that Instagram simply realizes that 'different accounts' is a security/visibility-control model that people find easier and more familiar than various sorts of filters/tags/groups/'friends only'/etc. It's not as though they will have much difficulty correlating a user's accounts(even if the app doesn't explicitly send them 'all usernames on this device', seeing logins to certain accounts from a specific device is a pretty big clue); but switching accounts is easier than futzing with security settings when trying to maintain distinct audiences.

    8. Re:News that Matters????? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bingo. That's what's newsworthy. A company finally figured out how people use its software: different accounts to maintain different personas for different audiences.

  4. Poor timothy by sexconker · · Score: 1

    I hope timothy can find a new job soon!
    All hail yaelk!

    1. Re:Poor timothy by sjritt00 · · Score: 1

      I think this is the first non-Timothy post since shortly after the changeover from Dice.

    2. Re:Poor timothy by KGIII · · Score: 1

      You'd be mistaken. One (or more) was posted by The New Guy on Saturday. You probably have more excitement in your life than I have and missed it. There was at least one, maybe two, that were posted by someone other than Timothy. If you've more energy than I, you can scroll back and find it. I'm pretty sure it was Saturday but I'm often on page 1 so it might have actually been posted on Friday.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  5. Another astonishing advance by Drunkulus · · Score: 1

    Every time you hear about a groundbreaking new technology from Instagram, it just reinforces their billion dollar valuation. Multiple user accounts ON THE SAME APP?? If you told me this a week ago, I'd have laughed and asked for a jetpack while you're at it.

  6. dmbasso by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dmbasso likes to look at pictures of children being sexually abused. He is a danger to all children around him.

  7. This is just awesome! by fredrated · · Score: 1

    Will the software wonders never cease?

  8. We should discuss the GitHub problems instead. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We should discuss the recent GitHub problems instead. Some shit is apparently going down there, and it involves social justice.

    For anyone who isn't aware, see the Hacker News discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11049067 and the Reddit discussion at https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/44hque/github_is_undergoing_a_fullblown_overhaul_as/.

    There is some Slashdot discussion of it at http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8722373&cid=51464967 but there should be a full story dedicated to this matter, and it should be on the front page. I'm too lazy to submit one so somebody else will have to.

    1. Re:We should discuss the GitHub problems instead. by retchdog · · Score: 1

      sounds like github is trying to become profitable (lol), so to distract people from a gigantic management shakeup/shakedown, they're trying to use the useful idiots on both sides of the "culture war" as an excuse/cause/strawman for massive failures. you know, kind of like they did with reddit and every other unprofitable wank site on the internet. and by unprofitable wank site, i mean any wank site apart from literal porn sites. those seem to make money somehow.

      instead of rallying to the side of whomever most of our friends are rallying to and pretending to share principles with, here's a great idea: let's ignore it completely! the net effect of github crashing and burning would be approximately zero.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  9. This is groundbreaking stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    inhale my funky zuckersnatch

  10. YO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I heard you like multiple accounts, so I put an account in your account so you can app while you app.

  11. Awesome for data collection by DogDude · · Score: 1

    Super awesome for the people collecting data. Now, when people are using different accounts for personal or business or whatever kind of compartmentalizations they need, the data harvesters can tie them all together to the same person much easier. Congrats to them!

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:Awesome for data collection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They can already do that, simply by observing the fact that you're logging in from the same device.

      This update just makes it less likely that you'll post your "sensual photos" to the account where your mom follows you.

  12. So, let me get this straight. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

    In 2016 it is 'news' when a client application supports storing more than one set of credentials?

    Truly, what miracles 'mobile' hath wrought. Wherever would we be without such innovators?

  13. Instagram? by Tighe_L · · Score: 1

    I don't understand why anyone uses it. You have to use a phone to be able to access most of the functions, if you login to the website you can't even delete a photo.

  14. Thank ee', massa. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    oOOOo how generous our massa' is. Five whole accounts per serial numbah! What ever will little ole me do with so much freedom? Oo I undstan', massa' gonna keep track in his little book o which five accounts go togethah in case the gubmint be askin', or in case you wanna block 'em all at once. Otherwise we be sock puppetin' and harrassin and trollin'. We instagrammers is a shifty lot, o yeah. Thank ee', massa, for keepin' careful watch over our shennanigans.

  15. But you can have multiple tablet/phone profiles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you really want random people you know using your tablet/phone account for their login profiles? Makes no sense.