Instagram enabled account deletion hours before Apple’s ultimatum expired

What you need to know

Instagram now allows people to delete their accounts from within the iPhone app.
Apple requires apps to allow deletion of accounts if they also allow their creation, starting today.
Instagram account deletion can be canceled within 30 days of initiation if needed.

Instagram left it late, but it now complies with Apple’s latest requirement.

Instagram has announced that iPhone owners can now delete their account from within the app for the first time — hours before Apple’s grace period expired.

Apple previously told developers that they had until June 30 to comply with a new requirement — all apps that allowed accounts to be created must also allow them to be deleted. Instagram has now flicked that switch, allowing in-app account deletion. The Meta-owned outfit waited until the last minute to do so.

Apple’s requirements were pretty strict, too. The company told developers that they couldn’t hide the option to delete an account, and account pausing or disabling wasn’t sufficient — “people should be able to delete the account along with their personal data,” it said.

Now, TechCrunch reports that Instagram has done what was needed, seemingly trying to claim it was its own idea all along.

“We want to give people more ways to control their experience and time spent on Instagram. We’ve rolled out the option to delete your account in Settings on iOS, and you’ll still have the option to temporarily disable your account before choosing to delete it.” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

Anyone who chooses to delete their account will be able to cancel the move by logging back into Instagram within 30 days, giving people chance to have deleter’s remorse long before it’s too late.

While Instagram is definitely one of the best iPhone apps for sharing and viewing photos and short videos, privacy concerns are a common issue for a company that Meta paid a small fortune for ten years ago. Being able to delete accounts is seen as an important aspect of all App Store apps that allow their creation, but apps like Instagram — those that collect private date — are likely to be the main target of this kind of requirement from Apple.