Mystery Button Appears on Instagram Feeds—What Is It and Why Is Everyone Talking?

So, Instagram just dropped a new share feature, and let me tell you, people are losing their minds figuring it out. You know how Meta’s platform has become this inevitable daily obsession—alongside the endless doomscrolling through Reels that somehow recommend the weirdest things you didn’t know you liked? Well, now there’s a shiny new repost button making waves. Imagine a retweet button crashing your Insta party, suddenly making your feed a collage of everyone else’s favorites—yep, that’s got folks either thrilled or trembling with accidental repost disasters. But here’s the kicker: this isn’t just a copycat move—it’s a slick way for creators to reach more eyeballs, even strangers following your followers. Of course, Instagram didn’t stop there; they’ve thrown in some location sharing options and a “Friends” tab for a sneak peek into your pals’ likes and comments, stirring up debates whether this is innovation or just borrowing from Snapchat and Twitter’s playbook. So, are we ready for Instagram to become the social media Swiss Army knife, or is it just a remix of features we secretly love to complain about? Dive in and see what all the fuss is about. LEARN MORE

We’ve got a new share feature on Instagram, and clearly, some people can’t get their head around it.

The Meta-owned platform has become a daily feature in our lives, and so has doom scrolling on Reels. After a long day of being productive, you let the algorithm do its work and recommend all the weird topics you’re into.

Although it’s quite confusing why the ‘Ibiza final boss’ guy keeps appearing on my feed remains a bit of a head scratcher.

On Wednesday (6 August), Instagram announced that they’ve introduced three new features to its app.

Adding that people use Instagram to ‘share what they’re up to and where they are’, they said in a statement: “We’re launching several new ways to help you better connect with your friends on Instagram.”

But the feature that people seem to be pretty vocal about is the new repost button.

What is Instagram’s new repost button?

The repost feature is now live on Insta (Instagram/@ladbible)

As you can see in the picture above, the new button is now featured on Reels and is also included on picture posts.

Meta says that you can ‘repost public Reels and feed posts, making it easier for you to share your interests with your friends’.

Explaining how the new button works, Meta said: “Reposts will be recommended to your friends’ and followers’ feeds, and they’ll also be in a separate tab on your profile, so you can always go back to revisit your reposts.”

They added: “Reposts are credited to the original poster. If you’re a creator, this means that if your content is reposted by someone else, it may be recommended to that person’s followers, even if those people don’t follow you.

“This gives creators an opportunity to reach even more people.”

Some users, however, have been left a little confused by the feature.

People are waking up to the repost feature this morning (Instagram/@ladbible)

“What the hell is the new repost button on Instagram?!” one person tweeted.

Another penned: “We’re getting a retweet button on Instagram now? So you mean the way I’ve had to mute people’s stories who just share every single thing they like I’m now gonna have to also mute them in my main feed?”

Meanwhile, someone else complained that ‘this new repost button on Instagram is killing me, I’ve accidentally reposted like 40 Reels’.

What are Instagram’s other new features?

One of the latest functions lets you ‘share your location with friends you pick’, which is perhaps a decent thing to do on a night out; however, they further state that ‘location sharing is off unless you opt in’ and you can choose who you share your location with.

And another new thing they’ve got is the ‘Friends’ tab in Reels, where you can see the content your friends have liked, created, reposted or commented on, and easily start conversations about them’, which can be accessed at the top of your Reels by clicking on ‘Friends’.

Meta adds that they are allowing the user the ability to control what’s shown in the ‘Friends’ tab, including sharing your likes and muting activity buttons.

However, others pointed out how they have included features already available on other social media apps, adding: “A new map feature like Snapchat? A repost/retweet button like Twitter? A bunch of videos on the TL like TikTok?”