Instagram Plans to Let Users Login to Multiple Accounts With a Single ID

One of the less talked about Instagram features is how easy it is to create and manage multiple accounts on the platform. It is really easy to constantly switch between different accounts, and manage them from the regular Instagram app on your phone in a way that’s not possible on many other networks.

The company could soon be taking that a step further, however. TechCrunch reports that the social network is testing a new Main Account feature that will let you access all your other accounts from a single, primary account. You could, for example, make your personal account the primary account — and whenever you log in to the primary account, you will get automatically logged in to your other accounts as well.

“Quickly and securely log in to all of your Instagram accounts with one ID and password. Make one of your accounts your main account and use it to log in to all of your other accounts at once. Your accounts will remain separate but logging in will be fast and simple. Anyone who has the password for your main account will have access to the accounts connected to it,” the code of an early version of Instagram’s Android app states, which was spotted by Ishan Agarwal.

The idea behind the feature sounds really useful, especially if you are constantly switching between devices. The main problem, however, is security here — if someone gets access to your main account, they will be able to get access to all your other accounts, and it’s not clear how or whether Instagram is planning to tackle that problem.

Moreover, if Instagram is planning to launch a login platform much like Facebook, or Snapchat’s Snap Kit login platform, this could pose further concerns for the company and its users. Giving third-party developers access to your single main account could also give them access to your other accounts, thus more of your personal data, and if Instagram is not careful about how your data is accessed by other developers/app providers, we could have a repeat of the Cambridge Analytica saga. It could, however, make logging into your online accounts using the platform wildly popular — much like what happened with Facebook Login years ago.