Why cant I use effects on Instagram iPhone?

Ellissa Bain

Instagram appears to be having one of its biggest outages of 2022 so far.

With over a billion users worldwide, the app sometimes glitches from time to time, and it’s really frustrating – but this seems worse than ever.

Hundreds of users have been taking to Twitter to report that their app isn’t working properly.

The glitches are affecting iPhone and Android users across the globe who are receiving an error message when they try to use a filter.

Read on to find out what’s going on and explore some ways to fix your app…

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Unable to use this effect di satu akun instagram doang, akun satunya di device yg sama bisa padahal 🙁 pic.twitter.com/lLypauTafi

— hani (@hanidany) May 26, 2022

Instagram users receive filter error

Thousands of Instagram users across the US, UK and many other regions are reporting errors with the popular photo-sharing app this week. 

Whilst trying to use a filter, many are receiving an error message that says ‘unable to use effect’.

The bizarre error is stopping people from using any Instagram effects on their Stories – and it’s really frustrating.

Twitter became flooded with reports that Instagram is down at around midnight on Thursday morning (May 26th).

One person wrote:

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Has Instagram effects stopped working on iPhone ?
Everytime I m trying a new filter it says unable to use this effect on your device #instagram #Apple

— Sneha Chandra (@sneha_chandra) May 26, 2022

Another said:

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Just adding up users who are facing “unable to use this effect on your device“ issue @instagram 🙄

— ken🧜🏼‍♀️🪸 (@kenlaksmis) May 26, 2022

A third person added:

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Why am I getting “unable to use this effect” @instagram fix this!!!

— Ivy ⚚ (@IvyMArnold) May 26, 2022

What is going on?

Instagram doesn’t appear to have addressed the global outage, but it’s clearly a bug within the app.

The ‘unable to use effect’ error has appeared because Instagram is down – the app hasn’t disabled filters.

There is nothing wrong with your phone or WiFi, Instagram’s servers are simply down which is causing irritating errors on your account. 

Bugs are very common on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, which often have outages due to their huge number of users.

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@instagram did y’all disable filters now? I am getting an “unable to use this effect on your device” notification now

— Katie Wilson (@shopdaddyt45) May 26, 2022

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@instagram Are you fixing the problem about cannot use filter feature for making story? Many people found the same error: “Unable to use this effect on your device” !!!!

— Aimee Vivi (@Koyya_vivi) May 26, 2022

It’s really annoying, but unfortunately, there’s not much you can do. As with all internet glitches, there’s no quick fix to make your app work again.

Instagram’s tech team are likely to already be aware of the issue and working on fixing the app. So, it should be working again in a few hours. 

However, if you’re feeling impatient, find some things that could fix your app below.

Six potential fixes

• Close the app and open it again.

First, try completely shutting down your app. On an iPhone, do this by swiping up on your homepage. 

• Log out of the app. 

Some users have reported that logging out of the app and then logging back in again has fixed their Instagram.

• Delete the app.

You could also try deleting your app and then re-downloading it again from the App Store.

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Wtf is going on @instagram with this error: unable to use this effect on your device???

— D a le y* (@xxDALE) May 26, 2022

• Make sure you’re using the most recent version. 

Head to your App Store and make sure there are no Instagram updates available. 

• Turn your phone off.

It’s the oldest trick in the book, but sometimes all you need to do is turn your phone off and on again. 

• Switch from WiFi to data.

There’s nothing wrong with your phone, but switching from WiFi to 4G or 5G could fix the app.

If none of these things work, close the app and try again in a few hours. By then, Instagram should have fixed the glitch.