In this post, we will explore an update to Instagram DMs by Instagram – a new Messenger experience on the app. Messaging has come a long way since they first brought it to Instagram. They’ve been exploring how messaging should evolve as Instagram grows. On Facebook’s family of apps alone, people send more than 100 billion messages to their friends and family every day. These days, we hang out with friends by using video calls. We send them memes and GIFs to communicate what we really think but hard to say, and share funny photos and voice notes to stay in touch.
New Messaging Features for Instagram
People keep in touch through private spaces now more than ever. More than a billion people already use Messenger as a place to communicate, share, and hang out with family and friends. That’s why Facebook is connecting the Messenger and Instagram experience to bring some of the best Messenger features to Instagram. Then customers have access to the best messaging experience, no matter which app they use. People on Instagram can choose if they update immediately to this new experience or not.
In a research of Facebook, four out of five people who use messaging apps in the US say that connecting more with friends and family on these apps is necessary to them. And among 3 people, there is one sometimes finding it hard to find a certain conversation thread. With this update, it will be even easier to stay in touch without thinking about which app to use to connect your friends and family.
Facebook is also adding more than 10 brand new features so customers can become closer to your friends. Selfie stickers are a unique hybrid of Boomerang, emojis, and selfies – and a new way to interact with people. Watch Together lets customers watch trending videos with friends on IGTV during a video call. They are also introducing vanish mode, where they can set messages to automatically disappear after they’re seen.
Messages and calls from friends and family using Instagram will stay in customers’ Instagram app. The main change is that people using the Messenger app can now connect with you on Instagram without needing to download a new app, and vice versa. You can also control where to receive messages and calls, such as in your chats, in your message requests or not at all.
The Best of Messenger
Instagram is also bringing familiar features from Messenger like replying to a specific message, forwarding a message, and customizable chat colors and themes. Every day, more than 10 million people customize their chat threads in Messenger with their favorite colors and nicknames. You’ll be able to use custom emoji reactions. And soon, you can apply message effects to put more emotion and visual flair behind your reactions and messages.
Over time, you’ll see even more fun ways to connect and react with your friends and family. Some features such as custom emoji reactions and selfie stickers will be available on Instagram at first and then will come to Messenger soon after.
Here are all the features coming soon to the new Instagram Messenger experience:
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Communicate Across Apps: Seamlessly connect with friends and family across Instagram and Messenger. You now can use either app to send messages and join video calls.
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Watch Together: Watching videos on Facebook Watch, IGTV, Reels, TV shows, movies, and more with your friends and family while making a video call.
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Vanish Mode: Choose a mode where messages disappear after you’ve seen or when you close this conversation.
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Selfie Stickers: Make for yourself a series of boomerang stickers with selfie to use in conversation.
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Chat Colors: Customize your chats with fun color gradients.
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Custom Emoji Reactions: Make a shortcut of your favorite emojis to react quickly to your friends’ messages.
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Forwarding: Easily share great content with a group of maximum five friends.
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Replies: Respond directly to a specific message in your chat and keep up with the conversation.
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Animated Message Effects: Add visual flair to your message with animated send effects.
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Message Controls: Decide who can message you directly, and who can’t do it at all.
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Enhanced Reporting and Blocking Updates: Now you can report full conversations in addition to single messages on Instagram, and receive proactive blocking suggestions across Instagram and Messenger when you add your accounts in the new Accounts Center.
Privacy and Safety
With this new update, you’ll have more options to choose and controls to manage your privacy, including whether message requests go to your Chats list, your Message Requests folder, or whether you receive them at all. Instagram offers tools for people to report suspicious activity, and take action to block someone across apps to against unwanted messages and calls when something doesn’t feel right. You can learn more about your privacy here.
They are releasing these new messaging features on Instagram and Messenger in some countries around the world. Then it will expand globally soon. This is only the start to making it easier to stay in touch with friends and family across our apps. Stay tuned for even more fun ways to connect and react in the future.