Wrapped for Instagram Seems Super Shady — Here's What We Know About the Third-Party App

The Gist:

• Wrapped for Instagram was released in early November 2023.
• The third-party app claims to be able to reveal your Instagram usage stats as well as other users' information.
• Users are suspicious of its legitimacy.

If you grew up during the early days of Facebook's popularity, you probably remember those old posts that claimed to be able to tell you who's been stalking your profile. With social media having officially taken off on the platform, it was certainly a tantalizing thing for young and impressionable users who wanted to flex their Friends list as much as possible. But those functions were always pretty dubious and asked for more personal information than a Facebook user should reasonably offer.

The smart decision would have been not to use those third-party functions at all, or you might risk untrustworthy people on the internet having access to your online profiles and information. Believe it or not, though, these suspicious apps seem to have found a new platform.

In early November 2023, Wrapped for Instagram was introduced and claims to track all sorts of information. Is it real? More importantly, is it safe? Here's what you ought to know.

Around Nov. 7, 2023, folks began catching wind of "Wrapped for Instagram". Quite literally taking cues and even its namesake from functions like Spotify Wrapped, Wrapped for Instagram claims to be able to present you with all sorts of information pertaining to engagement and popularity on your Instagram account.

NBC News reported that at the time of its release on the Apple App Store, Instagram Wrapped already had millions of downloads with users posting their results all over Instagram itself.

For all intents and purposes, Instagram Wrapped is a real app. In fact, it has its own Instagram profile that explains what exactly Wrapped does for your Instagram account. There are a few caveats to this, however.

For one, Wrapped is not formally associated with Instagram or its parent company, Meta. It's a third-party app that was not officially sanctioned by any Instagram affiliates.

In fact, Meta released a statement to NBC News decrying the app.

Reportedly, Wrapped for Instagram "violates [Meta's] policies" and the company has even asked Apple to remove it from the App Store.

As of this writing, the app is no longer available to download. But for anyone who was able to get it before it was removed, is it actually safe?

As a third-party app that claims to tell you personal information about your own Instagram account, Wrapped for Instagram already sounds shady enough as it is.

Naturally, plenty of folks have suggested not using it altogether. Not only that, but the stats it offers aren't even legit.

On the r/Instagram subreddit, users claim that Wrapped results are superficial and inaccurate.

"The [stats for] 'who are your top friends' and 'who viewed your account' are just the first three and second three followers when you check the follower list in the default order.

Many people claim that the app is simply collecting login information in order to steal data and hack into accounts. And based on the fake stats it gives out, that seems like a real possibility.

If it's on your phone right now, you might be better off deleting it.