Show HN: uBlock filter list to blur all Instagram Reels | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: uBlock filter list to blur all Instagram Reels

gist.github.com

125 pointsshraiwi48 comments

A filter list for uBO that blurs all video and non-follower content from Instagram. Works on mobile with uBO Lite.

Great! The more solutions to filter unwanted content on the internet the better.

Sometimes we find ourselves stuck having to use a particular platform because that's where the group chat is.

I've had great success with Firefox and the Social Focus extension. Works on a number of different sites including YouTube, Reddit and Instagram.

https://socialfocus.app/

I would love have something like this on a phone but only solution which I thought of other than stop using the app is decompile whole app, remove the reels and recompile it again which is not very viable solution.

not that i love this solution but that's exactly what the revanecd project does

here are their available patches for instagram: https://revanced.app/patches?pkg=com.instagram.android

Whoa thank you!

Thanks! Will try.

I use ScreenZen for mobile - it can block specifically short form content so you can stick to the actual social parts.

I use timelimit.io for managing screen time. Nice granular controls and schedule based rules.

I apply the 80/20 rule. 8 minutes allowed, followed by 2 minutes blocked. Then at night I reverse it. 2 minutes allowed, 8 minutes blocked. Just enough time to make one search query and then get off my phone. Or if I do get trapped by something, it's only for a short time.

https://timelimit.io/en/

This works on Firefox Mobile. I use it on Android and my Desktop without any issue.

I'll add also, for the odd thing that this doesn't filter, then I use uBlock Origin to filter that particular element.

Haven't checked on it since about mid last year but Facebook settings didn't work with it for me.

LinkedIn has also been especially hard to find a good blocker for to remove the sponsored/suggested posts from the timeline (it's just full of garbage engagement bait hot takes).

I just vibecoded a tampermonkey script to block scrolling on Instagram and also block reels. I also had it redirect from the `/reels/` URL to `/reel` which is just the single video view (for when friends link me memes), but it seems they removed that.

IGPlus worked much better for me on Instagram. https://weblxapplications.com/en/products/igplus

For facebook I love Facebook Purity. Only problem is it's desktop only. https://www.fbpurity.com/

Edit, some things I've been able to us ublock origin for. Like facebook reels. Not 100% clean but enough to stop them from working (no video, just still thumbnail when you open them). In some ways that provides some reinforcement learning to the brain.

if you're just using meta platforms for the chat functionality, may i recommend beeper.com?

> I'm trying to make Instagram be what my parents said Facebook was.

Hell, you're trying to make Instagram be what Instagram used to be. Back in the early (pre-Meta) days, it was just a reverse-chronological feed of the posts from people you followed.

A decent part of why I bailed on Instagram back in 2019 or so was because it had stopped being this for a while (posts reordered, some not even shown, so many ads).

You can still get a chronological feed if you tap the Instagram logo at the top and click "Following"

But you can't turn that mode on as a default, and it essentially kicks you from the normal app hierarchy into a separate barebones screen. I find it's all for naught anyway because my friends have long since stopped making regular posts on Instagram, it's more common to use stories.

Do Stories show up differently than posts? Asking as someone that has not used Instagram beyond looking at a few specific profiles.

Stories are the purpley-yellow rings at the top of the main page with people's profile pictures. Or if you go to their profile you'll see the ring around their profile picture. Stuff you post there stays viewable for 24 hours.

Posts are the stuff that appears in the main feed and your profile permanently (unless you remove it manually)

You can also get into the difference between posts are reels but... they've kinda fuzzied that over the years.

Right, you used to be able to do that with Facebook, too (haven't been on there in forever, don't know the current state), but, right, it would reset to the usual slop after a little while.

This sort of garbage is just yet another reason why I don't want to be on these platforms. "Oh, you prefer it this way? No, fuck you, we know better as to what you want."

> my friends have long since stopped making regular posts on Instagram, it's more common to use stories.

Ugh. I don't know what my friends have been doing these days on Instagram, but the last thing I want to spend my day doing is watching short-form video clips posted by my friends. The photo stream (yes, with occasional short videos), was wonderful.

Facebook still supports a chronological feed as well: https://www.facebook.com/help/218728138156311?locale=en_US

Heading to the home page, opening the menu, and tapping "See More" reveals a "Feeds" option. Tapping the "Feeds" option then reveals the chronological feed.

Didn't know about this and wow, I had missed stuff from real friends because the regular feed hid it.

In my case, Instagram eventually got to a point where most of my friends and family stopped posting. And I started following more creators because their content was interesting. These days there are some a few people I follow who are friends and I mostly just send them dumb reels. I see it more as a platform to consume content than keeping up with updates.

That said, I go through cycles of removing the app and reinstalling it later because it gets addictive.

I don't use the app so I confess I'm a little confused, I saw your screenshot and it seems like the end result is just scrolling through nothing. Why would you want that? Isn't it better to just not open it altogether? Like, block the entire thing? Why scroll through a bunch of blur

Same reason people use app timers when they can elect to not use the app instead.

The screenshot was to demonstrate what blocked posts look like. I scrolled past the posts of my friends since I didn't want to dox them, but organic posts do show up near the top of my feed.

The goal isn't to scroll through nothing, but rather have a clean feed that shows me just my friends and nothing else.

So why blur and not just hide?

It says in the post OP didn't want to fix the layout (and it is implied that empty space is less friendly than blurred content)

When you press "For you" at the top in the Instagram app (or the logo if it doesn't fully load), you can switch to "Following" and it will show you posts from only your friends from the past 30 days, and if you're using Instagram in the browser, you can bookmark https://www.instagram.com/?variant=following if you want it to be the default page you go to.

From the gist:

> I'm trying to make Instagram be what my parents said Facebook was

This sure makes me feel old. It's a great goal though. I miss the golden era of Facebook when it was really just friend content.

It took a nosedive the day the news feed was released. I remember people were angry about it and it's one of those things that didn't just take getting used to, it still sucks all these years later.

I did something similar for myself a few years ago:

||instagram.com^

Instead of using apps, use Brave browser and you will think that Instagram is a comepletely new social media.

I run PiHole + Unbound + OPNSense firewall at home, everything is filtered, plus Brave browser shield filter.

I also run GrapheneOS so I banned myself from using apps and use the mobile version instead, duuuuude, Instagram is actually usable.

To upload videos however, I must use its app, duuuuude, it is just ADs, suggestions, shorts and shit.

If people tried to use Instagram via Brave browser instead of the app, that alone would explain to you why I hate apps and how apps allow companies to push shit into you all.

Instead of promoting the Chrome ecosystem, you can just run Firefox with AdNauseum.

>promoting the Chrome ecosystem

So sharing an opinion you do not agree with is now called "promoting"? WoW

You no longer need to install extension that often are compromised, its Shield & Privacy is able to block YouTure Shorts and what not, no other browser does that or it does and Google find a way to bypass it.

We do not have access to the Shield lists, so neither does Google.

I used Firefox for years until it become useless, things might have changed now but too late.

And because I do not agree with your pov, I won't call it promoting Firefox, you do whatever pleases you!!

Yuck

Firefox has lost the plot, Orion is close but still has the odd UI bug that makes it tough to recommend, Safari is just Safari.

There is no truly good, independent, feature complete browser out there right now if you want to avoid Chrome and have something that a) works and b) isn't hostile to the userbase.

Brave at the very least said they'd keep supporting Manifest v2 extensions, though not sure how you'd acquire them anymore unless Chrome web store has kept the listings up.

I think this is already possible. You can snooze suggestions and then if you scroll to the top of Instagram, you can select "Following" instead of "For you". Maybe this is not possible in browsers though, I've only ever done this on my phone.

Does Instagram even have reels in the browser? If it has I've never noticed them

> I'm trying to make Instagram be what my parents said Facebook was. Christ, I'm old.

i was hoping Instagram would add a toggle to get rid of this stuff!

Too bad that would hurt their bottom line.

On the mobile app you can tap the Instagram logo and there's an option to show only posts from your follows. It's not sticky, unfortunately.

Also if you're on android I recommend:

distractionfreeapps.com/

They make a bootleg version of the app with the ability to remove certain feeds, e.g. reels, discover, stories

It's sticky on the web though:

https://www.instagram.com/?variant=following

Nice. Love seeing simpler solutions like this pop up.

My solution is rather simple: don’t use Instagram.

there are plenty of positive things that can come from using a platform like Instagram.

That's what they said about facebook. That's what they said about twitter. Not once has it actually been true for me.

name at least 10 things; if there’s plenty, this should be easy.

sure.

* made friends to meet up with locally in the bay area from multiple hobbies (roadtripping, photography).

* made friends to meet up with in japan:

  * i've now made at least a couple dozen friends who i've visited for meals, road trips, baseball games. 

  * been invited by other friends to come and take photos at their events and workspaces (like one works for a famous car tuner shop in Saitama and they asked if I could take photos of the owner as he fabricated parts for his race car)  

  * made another friend who's an expat living in Japan who takes photos as a job for various tourism agencies/local governments who i've hung out with  

  * made friends while in japan with people who also have shiba inu dogs and we keep in touch between visits using IG