How to return to the old design of the Instagram application

It's been three weeks since the most radical change on Instagram. The one in which he not only changed the appearance of his application, but also moved the tabs and buttons to the side so that users would get confused and end up in the store or in the Reels section. A stratagem designed to give visibility to these new tools that will help monetize the application and consume its contents. But know that there is a formula to return to the past.It's not the best option if you want your Instagram app to work properly, but the option is there.

Why my Instagram now has a Reels tab

And it is that Instagram has not made it mandatory to update your application to the latest version in order to work. At least to consume photos and stories like up to now. Something that opens the door to return to a version of the past of this social network to continue to have the notification tab for Likes and comments below, or without it appearing everywhere the new Instagram Reels icon. Do you want to know how it is done? Well, keep reading.

Only for Android phones

This little trick is a ploy that users with a mobile phone with the Android operating system can take advantage of. And it is that they are the ones who have the most comfortable way to downgrade or go to an older version of the application.Of course, you should know that the process requires downloading an apk file from outside the Google Play Store, which implies not having the security barriers of this store Applications. We have done it through the APKMirror repository, from where we have never had security problems of any kind. But if you continue with this tutorial you will do so at your own risk.

That said we only have to follow several simple steps:

1. The first is to uninstall the Instagram application from our mobile. It is enough that we make a long press on its icon to do so. Or that we access the Applications menu from the mobile Settings to find Instagram and click on its button Uninstall This will not delete your account, photos or messages, it will only delete the application of your mobile.
2. Now we access the APKMirror website.In our tests the version of the application from last November 17 serves the cause So you can click on this link to find all the available versions. There are several depending on the characteristics of your mobile, so look at the DPI scale, pixels per inch, something that will help you choose the version you need. If you do not find the right one, the application will not be installed, but you can try several until you get it right with yours.
3. Installation is simple. Click on the APK file that interests you and then click on the Download apk button. This will launch a browser message to confirm that we want to download the file. After a few seconds the file is downloaded and another message tells us if we want to open it With this we can start with the installer wizard, which will do all the work automatically.

If this is the first time you download an application from outside Google Play, a prompt will ask you to activate the Unknown Sources function. With this you can install the application following the steps.

In a few seconds you will have the installation done. Because you erased all of your Instagram data when you uninstalled Instagram, you'll need to enter your credentials again. But this is the last step you should take.

When you access this version of Instagram you will see the bottom of the screen as usual. With his magnifying glass and his heart. Nothing weird will have happened. Of course, you will not have the new Instagram Reels design either, and the application may not work as well as it shouldOr even that, after being closed for a while, when you open it again you find the new look. But at least you will have avoided the forced change to which the social network of photos and videos has forced us. A patch while we get used to the idea that shopping and Instagram Reels are here to stay.