Instagram introduced the Favorites feed in 2022. The option was announced on March 23, 2022, as one of two new ways to control what appeared in the home-feed experience; the other was Following.
Favorites shows the latest posts from accounts selected by the user, such as close friends or favorite creators. Instagram said the feed would present those posts chronologically, while posts from chosen accounts could also appear higher in the regular Home feed, marked with a star.
The feature is commonly confused with saved posts, which are bookmarks for individual posts, and with Close Friends, an audience list for sharing Stories. Favorites is instead a feed preference built around accounts the user follows. Instagram initially allowed up to 50 accounts in a Favorites list.
Favorites also did not replace the algorithmic Home feed or become the default view. Users had to choose it from the feed selector, making it a deliberate alternative for catching up on selected accounts in a more predictable order.