Instagram is finally testing ‘remove follower’ feature

When browsing through Instragram's endless flow of posts, it's difficult to tell how much of today's content you have seen. Instragram wants to change that so users know when they have seen all the latest posts. — dpa

Need to get rid of a follower, but feel it's too awkward to block him or her? Instagram may soon have a softer solution.

It's rolling out a Remove Follower function that lets users manually remove specific followers without alerting them.

This is similar to the workaround that most people currently use – blocking a person and then to unblocking him or her – but now you can do it easier and faster. 

Since this feature does not alert the person that's being removed, they may not notice that your posts are no longer appearing on their feed, especially if they are following many people. 

This also offers a better alternative than turning your account into a private one to shake off a few followers.

The Verge confirmed this new feature and it's being tested on Android for now. 

However, the company declined to provide more details on when it will be available for iOS or will see a full release.

For users that want to check if they have the feature, go to your profile page, tap a follower, then select the option function (three vertical dots on the right of their username). In addition to the usual report, block and mute, there should now be an unfollow option. 

In May, Instagram introduced a similar conflict avoidance option – the ability to mute annoying posters without informing them. Unlike unfollowing someone, this feature allows users to go to the muted person's account to view their posts, and still get notifications on comments and pictures that they're tagged in.