The OG App throws out Instagram ads and takes you back to basics
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Tired of the current state of the app, a group of developers took it upon themselves to create a version of Instagram that removes all ads and allows people to create custom feeds.
It is called The OG app (opens in new tab) and it brings Instagram back to basics. It’s no different social media platform and you still have many of the same features, such as Stories and the Discover page. But now you have control over what content you see on your Instagram feed thanks to a range of tools and filters. In a recent report (opens in new tab)the developers said they wanted to “put users, not advertisers, first with this app.”
At the time of writing, The OG App is only official available on the Google Play Store (opens in new tab). If you go to the Apple App Store, all you get is an endlessly loading webpage. However, you can join the TestFlight program to try out the beta version of The OG App. Instructions on how to participate are: found on the developer’s website (opens in new tab).
Features and first-hand experience
The purpose of the tools and filters is to allow users to fine-tune their Instagram accounts, the developers said.
You can create new feeds that only contain content from different sources, such as friends, news sites, or sports pages. Users have the option to disable roles and the exploration page with filters. Feed updates can also be turned off for 24 hours. And as mentioned before, the OG app removes all ads from your feed, leaving you with nothing but the content you want to see.
While the idea of an ad-free Instagram excites us, the experience of using it was a little less than satisfying.
First, logging into your Instagram account is complicated. When launching the app, you need to connect to your Instagram profile using the phone number or Google account associated with it. After connecting, you will need to log in a second time using your Instagram credentials. We did all that to get an error saying to try again in a few minutes. The error may be from the latest update but the app forced us to download this so we were stuck.
Fortunately, a fix is on the way. According to the developer’s official Twitter account (opens in new tab)are there plans to fully[revamp]… the login flow that should solve 90 percent of the problems [users] There are also new features on the way. The team behind The OG App is working on collaborative feeds, “sharing custom feeds with friends” and the ability to download Instagram Stories.
And on the official website, the developers are hinting at their next project: an app that will combine multiple social media feeds (such as Instagram and Twitter) into one. We’ve reached out to the team to ask when people can expect all these changes and the upcoming app. This story will be updated if we hear anything.
Possible removal
It’s a shame we couldn’t log in, because The OG App sounds very interesting. An Instagram without ads sounds great on its own; everything else is an added bonus.
The question remains whether Meta will kill the OG app. And the answer to that is “maybe”. according to prominent industry leaker Alessandro Paluzzi (opens in new tab)The OG app “uses Instagram’s private API without permission.” API (or Application Program Interface) is a part of software that allows it to communicate with other apps. Paluzzi claims that The OG App won’t last long in online stores due to the lack of permission, which could explain its sudden disappearance from Apple’s App Store. Something similar happened then Google has vanced YouTube. deleted (RIP) which was not an official app.
So far, no one has heard from Meta about The OG App. It is possible that Meta takes down the app. But its existence should tell Meta something.
People have been very dissatisfied with Instagram lately. The platform has made a big push to be more like Tik-Tok, much to the anger from TechRadar’s own Daryl Baxter. Plus, Instagram often makes changes that degrade the most basic functionality. If The OG App survives, it will surely find many fans among disenfranchised Instagram users.