Instagram

Introducing New Messaging Features on Instagram

3 years ago

Takeaways

Today, we’re introducing several new messaging features, including the ability to share music previews, send a message silently, the ability to see who’s online to chat and more.
This announcement is part of our ongoing work to improve how you connect and share with your closest friends.

Today, we’re introducing seven new messaging features to Instagram. As we announced at the end of last year, we’re making more investments in messaging to help you connect with your closest friends in more fun and seamless ways.

Browse and Chat at the Right Time

We’ve made several improvements that help people chat, share, and respond:

Reply while you browse: Receive a new message while you’re browsing your feed? You can now reply without going to your inbox and losing your place. This new feature makes it that much easier and more convenient to chat while on the app.
Quickly send to friends: We want to help people reshare interesting content without interrupting their Instagram experience. By tapping and holding the share button, you can effortlessly reshare posts to your closest friends.
See who’s online: At the top of your inbox, you can see who’s free to chat at that moment, helping you find serendipitous opportunities to connect with friends.

New Experiences in Your Message Threads

Customize your messaging threads by using these new features:

Play, pause, and re-play: Enabled by integrations with Apple Music, Amazon Music and Spotify coming soon, you can now share a 30-second preview of that song you just can’t get out of your head, and your friends can listen directly from the chat window.
Send messages quietly: Send messages without notifying friends late at night or when they’re busy by adding “@silent” in your message. Now you can reach out without worrying about sending unwanted notifications.
Keep it on the lo-fi: Feeling chill? Try the new lo-fi chat theme to make your conversations feel more personal.
Create a poll with your squad: Deciding where to go to dinner or what time to meet up? We’re bringing one of Messenger’s most beloved group chat features to Instagram so you can create a poll directly in your group chat.

These new features are available in select countries, with plans to expand globally. We’re always working to improve how you connect and share with your closest friends — stay tuned for more fun ways to connect.