Instagram testing new feature that lets you keep a public private profile

Like most social media apps, Instagram allows users to create a private profile. But what if you wanted the benefits of a public profile, such as increased visibility and reach, but also maintain a semblance of privacy? Turns out there’s a new feature in the works for that called Flipside.

The feature was initially spotted last year when it was being tested amongst a small group of users, but now it appears to be rolling out to more users. It isn’t 100% public yet so if you don’t see it yet, don’t worry about it.

How it works is it basically lets users create a subsection within their profile that contains a hidden photo feed. This lets users can maintain a public profile on Instagram, while creating a section with private photos. These photos can only be viewed by select users.

At this moment, it is unclear how this will work in the main feed. Will photos part of Flipside will be part of your feed, or will have to go to a person’s account just to check whether their Flipside section has been updated? If it is the latter, it sounds quite troublesome and annoying. We’ll have to wait for Instagram to roll it out fully to get a better idea.