Instagram rolls out customized icons…however just for teenagers

Some Instagram users are feeling cheated out of a new feature, as the photo and video sharing app on Wednesday announced the launch of custom icons — but only for its teen users.

Teens can now choose from a set of custom icons that turn the traditional Instagram logo into new variations that can be used as the app’s icon on their phone’s home screen. The option is accessed by tapping the Instagram logo at the top of the home feed after opening the app.

Currently, the custom icons include renditions of the Instagram logo styled as neon, clear glass, fire, flowers, green slime, and more.

In the replies to its announcement on X, users are overwhelmingly pushing back against the idea that such a feature should be age-gated, noting that adult users also want to customize their home screens. Some accused Instagram of chasing Snapchat with the feature. (On Snapchat, users need a paid Snapchat+ subscription to change the app’s icon.) Others said it gave them “MySpace vibes.”

Instagram’s teen accounts, launched in 2024, add additional restrictions and built-in protections for minors, including limits on content to PG-13 material. The company earlier this year began using AI technology to identify teens who lied about their age on the social network and enroll them in the more restricted teen accounts.

With custom icons, the company is trying a different approach: using a carrot instead of a stick, so to speak, to make the teen accounts seem more appealing.

Younger users do make sense as a target for customization options, as they’ve overwhelmingly embraced the iPhone Home Screen customization trend, which saw renewed interest when Apple introduced widgets in 2020 with the launch of iOS 14. Apple also made it easier to customize icons with improvements to app shortcuts. More recently, Apple has simplified the process with tinted icons in iOS 18, which were updated in iOS 26.

Android users have had these sorts of customization options for far longer, though the majority of U.S. teens are on iPhones.