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Instagram account recovery getting easier, and username hijacks less likely

Instagram account recovery will be a much easier process thanks to a new in-app process announced by the company.

Currently, if you get locked out of your account, the recovery process is a manual one …

You have to fill out a support form and then wait for a response from the security team. Engadget says that Instagram account recovery is set to be automated.

The updated approach uses the app to ask for different types of info (such as your original email address or phone number). You’ll then get a six-digit code sent to the contact info of your choice, and Instagram will then prevent hackers from using email or phone number codes to take over your account from a different device.

This new method would ensure that you could recover your account even if an intruder has changed the user name and contact data.

To make it less likely that bad actors will attempt to take over your account in the first place, a new protection is being put in place.

Instagram is offering a safeguard that ensures a user name can’t be claimed for a “period of time” after account changes, whether it’s a hack or a voluntary change.

It’s not certain when the in-app recovery will be widely available, although the user name lockdown is available to all Android users now and deploying to iOS users.

It follows two changes to Instagram last month, the company first dropping support for the standalone Direct app, and then for the first time allowing landscape video on its long-form video platform, IGTV.

We realize this is an evolution from where IGTV started – we believe it’s the right change for viewers and creators. In many ways, opening IGTV to more than just vertical videos is similar to when we opened Instagram to more than just square photos in 2015. It enabled creativity to flourish and engagement to rise – and we believe the same will happen again with IGTV.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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