iOS apps must now allow accounts to be deleted. At the last possible date, Instagram has now also integrated such a function.
For the first time it is possible to delete the Instagram account directly in the app – but only on iPhones. The social network belonging to Meta has now built the deletion option into the iOS app, which means that the previous detour via the browser is no longer necessary. Instagram is reacting – just in time – to a new app store rule: from July 1, apps must provide a delete function for accounts if they also allow the creation of an account. The Apple requirement issued last year was originally supposed to take effect at the end of January 2022, but was postponed.
Apple: Account deactivation is not sufficient
When selecting the new delete function in the account settings of the Instagram app, the option to only deactivate the user account is still offered. The deletion of the account, which should also include the removal of all content from the operator’s servers, can still be reversed for a period of 30 days by logging into the app again.
Apple emphasizes in its set of rules that the option to deactivate an account alone is not enough, the entire “account history including all personal data” must be completely erasable in apps.
Instagram -Delete function only in iPhone app
Instagram wants to give users “more ways to control their experience and the time spent on Instagram” with the delete function, a spokesman told Techcrunch. The delete function is currently only available for iOS, it remains unclear whether it should also be integrated into the Android app.
Apple’s new requirement seems to be based on the General Data Protection Regulation. The group has repeatedly referred to the GDPR as a data protection model. Apple wants to give all users around the world “the same user rights as Europeans,” said the company’s data protection chief in a recent interview.
