Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff.
It’s Instagram’s 10th birthday — yes, it’s now been in our lives for 10 years, and no I don’t feel old at all. As a treat for users this month, Instagram’s giving users the option to change their app icon to one of the old classics. Here’s how you can do it.
???⚙️?⬇️⬇️⬇️??
— Instagram (@instagram) October 6, 2020
The icons are somewhat hidden in the app itself, so you’ll have to do a little snooping to find it. To start, you’ll have to go to the settings within the Instagram app. Once you’re there, pull down as hard as you can. You’ll see a string of progressively more curious emoji.
Pull down as far as the present emoji, and you’ll get some confetti and you’ll be directed to the secret menu where you’ll see all of the icons you can switch to from the current sherbet-colored tile. You’ll even be able to switch to the very vintage full Polaroid camera icon, and the pre-launch “Confidential” lens icon. In addition to the classics, you can also change the icon to different color variants of the current logo. The colors include “Pride” (rainbow, natch), “Dark” and “Light,” and “Gold.”
The text on this hidden menu says it’s to “celebrate our birthday” in the month of October, so it’s not clear how long the color swap you pick will remain — at the very least, I would presume they’ll be gone by November. It’s a shame, too, because the color options are very attractive and the Instagram logo is still very recognizable on each of them. The old-school Polaroid-style icon looks delightfully vintage next to modern apps.
And that’s it! Take advantage of this while you can, because who knows when it’s going away. Good luck!
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