What Is Soft Launch on Instagram, and Why Should Every Couple Do It?

Nothing compares to the morbid social media cleanup that follows a split — the hours spent crying over having to remove the adorable vacation photos you took together and listening to breakup songs. Trying to pretend they never existed when they are featured in nearly every single post you have made in the last year is a painful process. The good news is that thanks to (drumroll, please) the soft launch, the custom of erasing all traces of your ex on your social media accounts is no longer necessary.

What Is a Soft Launch?

The soft launch is the solution if you’re wondering how to let people know you’re in a relationship without telling them. Although the strategy isn’t particularly novel, labeling it a soft/hard launch is — particularly as more celebrities and influencers have stunned fans and followers with subtly announced relationships. At the beginning of the soft launch, it was all about deft shots that suggested you were with someone. You may do this in a post or an Instagram story. Consider two glasses perched on a posh bar top, a hand resting on your knee that is most definitely not yours, or a gorgeous bunch of red flowers with a person’s shadow in the distance.

While this kind of soft launching is still very frequent, a newer one that is even simpler on the grid is emerging. It is now necessary to create a carousel post and subtly include a soft launch in the collection of images. So you have pictures of a nice neighborhood, you and your dog at the beach, a bagel, and then a picture with your new beau amidst all of these other weird stuff. Because it’s buried in a ton of other pictures, you can go full out and display them, or you can do it the classic way with their face hidden. You won’t even need to remove the post if you break up!

How Is it Different From a Hard Launch?

The two methods of declaring relationships could not be more dissimilar. There was nothing more exciting than actually changing your status from “single” to “in a relationship” back when MySpace was dying out and Facebook was just starting to take off. After finishing this, you’d frequently tag your new S.O. while impatiently anticipating their acceptance, and presto! It was announced that the two of you were “officially” involved.

The hard launch morphed into publishing a very obvious “couple” photo once people switched to Instagram and there was no longer a text option to indicate your interest in someone. Common ones featured pictures of you cuddling up on the couch, sharing a passionate kiss, or standing with your hand enviously resting on them while their face was visible. Additionally, you would often tag the other person to make it simple for your followers to stalk your new companion. The words “finally” or “mom and dad” in comments would instantly elevate you to the status of #CoupleGoals. The hard launch is still a viable choice if that’s more your style, even though it has slightly lost favor.