Instagram brings algorithm controls out of settings and into the feed with new gestures

Instagram head Adam Mosseri previewed new gesture-based controls for the Your Algorithm feature this week, saying the company wants to move topic tuning out of buried settings and turn it into something that feels central to the app experience. The prototypes include a pull-down gesture in the main feed and swipe-up prompts on Reels.

Your Algorithm launched in December 2025 for Reels, then expanded to Explore and eventually the main feed. The feature shows users an AI-generated summary of the topics influencing their recommendations and lets them adjust which subjects they see more or less of. Changes apply across Feed, Reels, and Explore simultaneously.

New gestures bring controls into the scrolling flow

The new prototypes remove the need to navigate to a settings menu. A pull-down gesture in the feed surfaces the Your Algorithm menu directly. A swipe-up prompt on individual Reels does the same. The most granular addition is a button beneath each Reel that lets users indicate immediately whether they want to see more or fewer videos like it, all without interrupting their scroll.

Mosseri cautioned in his post that “some of this is testing now, some is coming soon, some might not work.” The push reflects Meta’s broader effort to give users more visible levers over its AI-driven recommendation engine, especially as the company faces pressure from regulators and users over algorithmic content curation.

The most popular comments on Mosseri’s post made a different demand. As one user wrote: “WE JUST WANT OUR ALGORITHM TO SHOW THE PPL WE FOLLOW.” The tension between recommendation-based discovery and a simple chronological feed of followed accounts has defined Instagram’s relationship with its audience for years.

Instagram competes for attention on recommendation turf

Instagram now competes directly with TikTok’s interest-based algorithm and YouTube Shorts’ recommendation engine, both of which prioritize content from accounts users do not follow. Your Algorithm is Instagram’s attempt to give users a visible lever over that system without abandoning the recommendation model that drives engagement and ad revenue.

The question for Meta’s product teams across Instagram and Threads is whether surfacing controls through gestures rather than menus changes the user dynamic. Early test results could determine whether the company rolls out the new controls broadly or iterates further. Mosseri did not provide a timeline for a wider launch.