Instagram Tests ‘Lockable’ Posts Which Require Secret Code to View
Instagram is testing out “lockable” posts that users have to unlock to view by entering a secret code.
Meta revealed that it has officially begun testing a new lockable posts feature via a reel on Instagram’s official @design account.
On Monday, Instagram’s @design account — which showcases the design and craft of the platform’s creators — shared a reel with the caption “Coming soon.”
When an Instagram user first clicks on the reel, it is blurred from view with an image of a key. There is a note telling the Instagram user to “enter [a] secret code in the app” to “unlock this reel from design” and view it.
The reel includes a clue in the hashtags accompanying the post for Instagram users to guess the secret code. Once, an Instagram user enters the correct secret code in the app (but not on the website), they can view the Reel.
Instagram’s test also included a preview of Meta’s Community Notes, which adds more context to posts through crowd-sourced annotations.
According to Social Media Today, Instagram appears to be trying out lockable posts as a new way to drive engagement with followers on Reels and photos. It can also be used to offer targeted discounts to past customers rather than the entire audience, or to share location-specific updates.
Lockable posts are similar to the Reveal sticker and Frames feature that Instagram rolled out last year. The Reveal stick lets creators hide a story post by blurring it. To see the post, viewers have to send a DM to the creator who shared it.
Meanwhile, Frames adds a gray Polaroid-style frame to photos. When a user shakes their phone, the photo appears, in a similar way to how people used to shake real Polaroid pictures to develop the images. Frames was first launched at Coachella last April.
Image credits: All photos via Instagram.
