Instagram has extended its Your Algorithm tool to the app’s main feed, giving users a direct way to see and edit the topics driving what shows up as they scroll.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri has been previewing new, more visible ways to reach the controls, including pulling down on the feed or swiping up on a Reel, according to The Next Web.
What Your Algorithm does
It is a feature that lets users fine-tune their algorithm, meaning they can choose topics they want to see more or less of while scrolling.
Those choices shape what appears in Reels, Explore and now the main feed. The dashboard shows an AI-generated summary of the topics currently influencing a user’s recommendations.
Changes made through the tool apply across Feed, Reels and Explore simultaneously, rather than requiring separate adjustments on each surface.
Instagram frames the shift as part of a broader move toward AI systems that respond to explicit instructions rather than only inferring preferences from behavior. That trend is also visible in how fast AI-driven personalization and reasoning systems such as frontier chat models have advanced this year.
From Reels to the main feed
Instagram launched Your Algorithm on December 10, 2025, letting users see and adjust the topics influencing their Reels recommendations.
The company expanded the tool to Explore in April 2026. It was then extended to the main feed as of June 2026, bringing the controls to the surface where most users spend the bulk of their time in the app.
Mosseri framed the move as giving people real control, acknowledging the feed had become mostly algorithm-surfaced content from accounts people never followed.
The admission is notable from the executive who oversees ranking decisions for an app used by billions of people. It also comes as platforms increasingly compete for creator attention alongside a creator economy that brands are pouring tens of billions of dollars into this year.
New ways to access the controls
Mosseri has since previewed additional entry points meant to make the tool harder to ignore.
According to TechCrunch, the examples include pulling down in the feed to bring up the Your Algorithm menu, and swiping up from a Reel for a similar prompt.
Instagram is also testing buttons beneath each Reel indicating whether a user wants to see more or fewer posts like it.
Mosseri described the goal directly, saying “We want to evolve Your Algorithm from a setting to something that feels central to your experience on Instagram.”
He cautioned that the prototypes are at different stages, noting “Some of this is testing now, some is coming soon, some might not work.”
Despite the new controls, user feedback has been pointed. The top request from commenters remains simple: show us who we follow.
Why it matters
The expansion puts Instagram ahead of some rivals in granular personalization.
TikTok introduced a similar Manage Topics tool, but its controls are broader and less personalized, with users choosing from generic categories.
Instagram’s list, by contrast, is individualized and driven by each person’s recent activity, giving users a more tailored view of why specific content appears in their feed.
