Image: OG
Instagram is going through an identity crisis. Should it be more like TikTok? More like Facebook? It hasn’t been itself for years now, and in the process, it’s annoying the hell out of everyone.
For now, the Instagram experience is pretty bad, full of intrusive ads and irrelevant Reels from creators you might not care to know about. (A chief complaint right now is creators that people actually do follow rarely even show up on feeds. If you want to see their post, you have to go looking for them.)
What you can do with The OG App
The OG App (iPhone, Android) aims to solve those problems, and it’s the first app I have seen in a long time that actually offers a worthwhile third-party Instagram experience. Once you log in with your Instagram account, OG takes the content and builds your feed from the ground up—and it’s much better than using the Instagram app, or even the scaled-down web version.
With The OG App, you get your regular feed, Stories, DMs, and comments. It looks like the Instagram app, but there are no ads, no suggested posts, and no Reels infestation. You can go to the dedicated Reels tab to watch videos, but that’s where they live, only showing up when you want them. Even better, you can go to Settings to disable Reels and the Explore page altogether.
The OG App can also create different lists with different public profiles (a concept lifted directly from Twitter lists, but no complaints here). I can create different lists to follow creators I like in different niches, like coffee, tech, lettering, design, and more. Once a list is created, the app generates a separate feed just for those accounts.
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All these features might help you hate Instagram a little less. So, what do you think? Is The OG App enough to help you enjoy using Instagram again? If not, there are other tips you can try to make Instagram a little better.
[TechCrunch]
