If you’ve been on Instagram since it became a thing in 2010, you’ve likely done some cringeworthy things on that app, such as stalking your crushes, having some embarrassing usernames, and coming up with some god awful bios when you went through that emo phase during high school.
Well folks, it seems like you can’t outrun your embarrassing Instagram past because there’s a secret setting that will reveal everything you’ve searched and changed on your profile, as well as private info you may have linked to it.
That’s right, the skeletons in your Insta closet are about to be unearthed.
If you go to Settings > Security > Account Data, you’ll see that Instagram has been hoarding a LOT of your information that includes:
- Account privacy changes
- Password changes
- Former email addresses
- Former phone numbers
But perhaps most worryingly for some people, Instagram also has a complete record of potentially scandalous things like:
- Former user names
- Former full names
- Former bio texts
- Former bio links
- Current follow requests
- Search history
In short, there’s a record of almost everything you have done or changed on your Instagram profile, with the exception of your photos and videos.
As someone once said in that excellent Facebook movie from 2010, the internet is indeed written in ink and not incredibly-difficult-to-erase pencil.
If you did the smart thing and didn’t get Instagram or haven’t bothered to use it, then you’re in the clear.
But if you’ve changed more things on your Insta profile than what George Lucas has done to Star Wars, your best bet would be to delete everything off your phone and going off the grid for a while.