Instagram has made it easier to restore deleted content. In a new update to the photo-sharing app, a 'recently deleted' feature has been added, allowing users to restore videos and photos within 30 days.
"We know this is something people have been asking for," the Instagram team wrote on its blog on Tuesday.
The Facebook-owned company has also added protections to help prevent hackers from deleting shared posts after accessing accounts.
"We know hackers sometimes delete content when they gain access to an account, and until now people had no way of easily getting their photos and videos back."
Now, people will be asked to first verify they are the rightful account holders via text or email before they can permanently delete or restore any content from the 'recently deleted' folder.
How does it work?
Any deleted photos, videos, reels, IGTV videos and stories will now be moved to the new folder.
All of this content will stay there for 30 days before being automatically deleted, unless you choose to restore it. The only exception is with stories that are not in your archive, which will stay in the folder for up to 24 hours.
To restore or permanently delete, you can access this folder by going to Settings > Account > Recently Deleted on the latest version of the app.
During this 30-day period, the content remains subject to Instagram's terms of use and data policy, and cannot be accessed by anyone else using the app, according to its Help Centre.
It may take up to 90 days to complete the deletion process and copies of your content may remain after 90 days in the back-up storage in the recovery process in the event of a disaster, software error or other data loss, it states.
"We may also keep your information for things like legal cases, terms violations or harm prevention efforts."
You can learn more about this in its data policy.
Two members of The National's team have tried to access the folder in the UAE, and were unable to. So, for now it seems the update has yet to reach the region.
