X

Instagram now lets you 'archive' embarrassing old photos -- here's how

Instagram has added an archive option.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
Expertise Laptops, desktops, all-in-one PCs, streaming devices, streaming platforms
Matt Elliott

Drunken selfies. Photos of your ex. A poorly lit plate of food. There are many reasons why you might want to delete a photo from Instagram . And now, you have the option of either deleting or archiving unwanted or embarrassing photos. Instagram rolled out an update on Monday that introduced location and hashtag stories and also included an unannounced archive option.

After updating the app, you'll see a new clock-with-an-arrow-around-it button in the top right, which takes you to your archive page where you -- and only you -- can view your archived posts.

To archive a post, tap the triple-dot button above it and you'll see Archive at the top of the list. Don't worry, the Delete option remains for those photos of your ex you want to trash forever. Archived posts are removed from your feed and placed on your archive page.

instagram-archive.jpg
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

After archiving a post, you can reverse course and add it back to your feed. From the archive page, open a photo, tap the triple-dot button and then tap Show on Profile. It'll get put right back where it was before, with the chronological order of your feed unchanged.

For more, learn how to use Instagram's new face filters and how to post photos to Instagram from your computer.