How to use Instagram Wrapped, and is it legit?

Wrapped for Instagram is an app that attempts to capitalise on the end-of-year fuss around Spotify Wrapped.

Spotify introduced Wrapped in 2016 as a shareable way to look back at your listening habits over the year. It has become an annual viral sensation, and Wrapped for Instagram claims to do the same for the social media platform.

However, this app is not produced by Instagram owner Meta but a development studio we have never encountered before called Wrapped Labs LLC. It has no other published apps on the App Store.

How to get Instagram Wrapped

Instagram Wrapped is available for iOS devices only, from the Apple App Store. While there is an app called Wrapped on Android’s Google Play, whose app store page uses the same screenshots, once downloaded, you’ll find it bears no relation to the iPhone version.

It doesn’t interface with Instagram, and shows the same login screen as publisher Marh Studios' other Android apps. Avoid.

Is Wrapped legit?

Wrapped is not legit in the sense it is not made by the Instagram team. It also appears not to do what the app claims.

The app’s screenshots depict your most popular stories, who you talked to the most and a chart of your “top friends”. However, users on Reddit claim it simply lists your friends in the order they appear in your follower count. Users on Twitter/X have also claimed the stats Wrapped spits out change each time you try to access the app.

Providing fake data is consistent with the idea Wrapped doesn’t really have access to the inner workings of your Instagram account, which third-party apps do not get just by linking them to your Meta login.

Wrapped’s App Store page says the app does not collect any data from the app. However, when you open the app you are asked to link Wrapped to your Instagram account, but it is not clear whether this is a legitimate linked login interface or just a text box that could be used to harvest your login data.

Even if it is a standard Instagram login, these pages are used to authenticate a person's identity, not to grant access to an Instagram profile's data.

“We built Instagram Wrapped with a 100% privacy-first approach… we don’t have access to any of your login info; your data is safe on Wrapped,” the app’s introductory blurb claims.

We have approached Meta for comment on Wrapped.

Will Instagram wrapped expose your activity?

Currently available information suggests Wrapped would not be able to expose your Instagram activity because, in all likelihood, it does not actually have access to it, beyond what is visible publicly.

However, at this point, we cannot recommend using Instagram Wrapped as it may use fake stats and is therefore likely not something you want anywhere near your social media login details.

The company’s terms of service also state the app is available for “Android & iOS” even though there is nothing resembling the iPhone version available on Google Play.