Good app - why is blocking and unblocking so difficult? – Instagram Review

I mutually blocked a friend in April 2017, neither of us could figure out how to reconnect. Today I found the “blocked users” option in profile settings. I was able to locate him and unblock him. I tried to do the same thing with another friend (blocked in December 2017 if that helps) I would like to passively unblock only so My content is available to her if she ever wants to reconnect. When I select her name it grays out like it’s selected but doesn’t go to the next screen. I understand she may not want to unblock me at this time. But how does one begin this process if neither party is able to unblock? Wouldn’t she be unable to unblock me if I was blocking her as well? This is a really silly bug. Summer of 2016 I tried to block someone simply because I didn’t want to know about their existence or be tempted to search them. Blocking them only resulted in them not seeing my stuff. I could still see theirs. :/ There’s an infinite loop where there’s no way to break it. One person has to have the option to unblock in order to be available to the other person to choose to unblock. Seems like a really really simple ux issue for a Silicon Valley company to figure out. Set it up so - When you block someone, it’s mutual. They can’t see your stuff and you can’t see theirs. Unblocking is only available from the blocked users screen and is one sided - you’re only allowing your content to be viewed by the other person if they choose by unblocking. You’ve created a really annoying loop where no one can get out of it if they want to. Why not make it work like Facebook’s blocking. I’ve unblocked ppl I am open to reconnecting with if they want. Their privacy is still respected, I still won’t see them if they don’t want me to, but if they do choose to unblock they easily can from the blocked list. (Related: annoying there’s no help forum on the IG help site.)
Review by Melissa Summers on Instagram.