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Instagram beefs up the app’s messaging features with a new way to browse the feed while sending a DM

Photo credit: freestocks / Unsplash

Following Meta’s announcement of a few new features for Messenger, Instagram revealed that it is also adding improvements to its app’s messaging function. With this update, users no longer have to leave their Feed when they have to send a direct message.

One of the new features added to the Instagram app is the ability to reply to DMs received while browsing the feed. In the sample image, Instagram shared in a blog post, incoming messages appear as a floating notification on the upper portion of the app’s screen. A text bar will then appear at the bottom of the screen with a Send button, allowing users to type a reply without needing to open the DM panel.

Instagram also improved the ways people can reshare the posts they like from their Feed. With the update, the company said the DM button below every photo or video will offer an option to quickly send the posts to their “closest friend.” The blog post was not clear, though, how Instagram defines “closest friends.” But it could be based on the user’s previous interactions on the app.

The Instagram DM section is also taking a page out of Messenger’s book. The inbox will now feature a new panel above the DMs, showing who is currently online.

The other features announced Thursday provide new ways for Instagram users to customize their messages sent through the app. Instagram users will soon be able to send 30-second previews of songs directly from Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify. In the teaser, the music preview shows the song’s art, title, artist, the streaming platform where it was shared from, and a play/pause button.

Earlier this week, Messenger launched a new shortcut that lets users send a message without disturbing its recipient. The same feature has been added to Instagram’s messaging function. Users can add the “@silent” shortcut to send a message without a push notification.

Group chat poll is another popular Messenger feature confirmed to be coming to the Instagram DMs. People can use these to avoid lengthy discussions of where they should go or what they should do the next time they are going out. Instagram also added a new lo-fi chat theme “to make conversations feel more personal.”

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

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