If you’ve opened Instagram lately and felt like something looked a little more familiar, you’re not alone. Plenty of people are noticing their profile highlights popping back up as those classic circles right under the bio, instead of getting buried in the main grid or tucked into a separate tab. It’s a quiet rollback that’s got users cheering, especially after the backlash from the change that hit back in September.
Remember when Instagram decided to shake things up by moving story highlights into the feed and giving them their own spot next to posts and reels? We covered that shift here on PiunikaWeb, and boy, did it rub a lot of folks the wrong way.
The app even threw a pop-up at users saying it was all about simplifying profiles, but many called it cluttered and hard to navigate. Fast forward to this week, and the old circle layout is returning for a bunch of accounts.
One excited user on X posted a screenshot exclaiming, “instagram went back to the circle highlights😭😭😭😭 best news ever thank GOD,” while another said the world is healing now that they’re visible again.
Over on Reddit, threads lit up with relief – someone in r/Instagram shared how their profile suddenly looked neat and normal once more, thanking Meta for listening. In another post, one user asked if others are also seeing the previous layout for Highlights.
It’s not hitting everyone at once, though. Some profiles still have the newer style, which points to Instagram testing or gradually pushing the revert. But it’s more likely that this is the result of the ongoing test, which means that the feature might go missing for some users before rolling out widely again.
That said, not everyone’s happy with the change either. A few users want Instagram to bring back the new layout with Highlights placed in the grid.
At the same time, creators are dealing with a less welcome tweak on the Reels side. Overnight, a ton of accounts stopped showing combined view counts from Instagram and Facebook. If you crosspost a Reel to both platforms, it used to add up all those plays into one big number on your profile – super handy for bragging rights or landing deals. But now, for many, it’s displaying only the Instagram views, making totals look way smaller.
This flip-flop isn’t totally new; users say it glitched out a couple months back but got fixed quick. This time around, it’s sticking longer and frustrating marketers. In r/InstagramMarketing, one person shared how a Reel dropped from 225k views (mostly from Facebook) to just 25k overnight, wondering if those lost numbers will ever come back.
Another thread in the same sub also highlights the problem, with creators worried about how it hurts their metrics. Similarly, there are a few posts over at r/instagram too (1,2,3) and one post on Threads.
Meta hasn’t said a word officially on either change, which is pretty standard for them. The highlights revert feels like a win for user feedback, but the Reels views thing has creators scrambling. If your account flipped one way or the other, drop a comment below.
On a related note, if you’re also running into the new “can’t create group chats” glitch that’s popping up today, we just covered that one over here.
Dwayne Cubbins
2714 Posts
I cover fast-moving stories across apps, online platforms, and everyday tech — phones, wearables, consoles, and whatever else people are fighting with this week. Bugs, rollouts, scams, policy enforcement, and the occasional internet-culture rabbit hole are all fair game. My goal is simple — make confusing tech news readable. When I'm not working, I'm working out or chilling with my dog. Got a tip? You can find me on X @dcubbins.
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