Instagram glitch washing out colors in photos and stories

Instagram users are up in arms over a recent glitch that’s washing out the colors in their photos and stories. This comes just weeks after Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained the platform’s approach to video quality, which prioritizes resource efficiency over showing the highest quality content upfront. While Mosseri’s comments were about videos, it seems a similar fate has befallen photos and stories.

Recent chatter traces these woes back to an update rolled out over the past 24-48 hours. For Android users especially, posts and Stories are losing their visual punch. Even a few iPhone users have jumped into the fray, sharing how their perfectly edited photos now look lifeless once uploaded. Some users are seeing issues with all their carousel slides except the first one, while others report inconsistencies across single posts. It’s no surprise that frustration is brewing.

Here’s where it gets interesting: Instagram’s boss, Adam Mosseri, recently gave a behind-the-scenes peek into how the platform handles video quality. In a past AMA, Mosseri revealed that Instagram doesn’t always display videos at their highest quality. Instead, videos are initially compressed and only reprocessed into sharper versions if they gain enough traction. While this revelation was about videos, it offers an intriguing lens to view the current photo debacle. Could the same popularity-driven algorithm now be quietly messing with photo uploads?

Complicating matters further, Mosseri emphasized that Instagram also adjusts video quality based on a user’s internet connection. This resource-saving feature makes sense for mobile users on the go, but creators who invest time in crafting visually stunning posts might feel like they’re being unfairly punished.

The timing of these complaints is suspiciously aligned with Instagram’s latest app update. Previous updates have been notorious for introducing peculiar quirks, from dark mode issues to glitches with carousel posts and DMs. There have also been some great additions like the recent update that brought nicknames. But this time, it seems photo contrast and color are caught in the crossfire. Some users are already speculating that Instagram’s quality tweaks could be tied to the popularity algorithm Mosseri mentioned earlier — one that prioritizes highly viewed posts. Others blame the app’s HDR rendering settings, suggesting that Ultra HDR, a feature touted by Instagram earlier this year, may be acting up.

Adding fuel to the fire, some users claim even their older posts are being retroactively dimmed, as though Instagram suddenly decided their photo library needed a “vintage Instagram filter.” The randomness of these glitches — affecting some carousels but not others, or only impacting Stories — is adding to the confusion.

While Instagram hasn’t officially acknowledged the issue, history suggests it may take time to roll out a fix. For now, stay patient and avoid posting anything mission-critical until Instagram clarifies the situation, and keep an eye out for app updates. Hopefully, this is another temporary glitch that’ll be patched quickly and not another calculated tweak by Instagram’s algorithm overlords, where only the popular posts shine brightest.

Meanwhile, Instagram is testing a tool that resets all recommended posts. This comes after the recent launch of a ‘collage’ option for Stories and live location sharing feature in the DMs.