Did you know you can reply to an Instagram Direct Message with a photo or video? Instagram allows you to show your exact reaction to a message sent to you by sending back a suitable image or video, along with visual elements that are usually reserved for Instagram Stories.
Send back a video of yourself laughing instead of texting “LOL” when a friend sends you something funny to capture your most natural reaction, or send an image from your gallery that fits the mood.
Here’s how to use the new visual reply feature in your DMs…
Instagram Continues to Add Interactive Features to Its App
Instagram continues to pack its app with features that make it more fun and engaging, so you can get the most out of your experience in the app.
One of its 2021 updates includes visual replies to messages, letting you send a video or photo reaction to messages.
In adding more interactive features to its platform, Instagram takes on video-sharing app Snapchat, which offers similar functionality.
Similar to Snapchat, these messages are not necessarily permanently available. With these Instagram replies, you can set them to expire.
Here’s how to use the new feature…
How to Reply to an Instagram Direct Message With a Photo or Video
To send a reply with a picture or video, you can capture something new with your phone’s camera or choose something existing from your phone’s gallery.
Follow these steps to send a visual reply in your messages:
- In your Instagram Direct Messages, open the chat with the person you want to reply to.
- To reply with a photo or video, tap the camera icon at the bottom-left of the screen and capture your image or video.
- To reply with an image from your phone’s gallery, tap the picture icon on the bottom-right of the screen.
- At the bottom of the screen are three options: View Once, Allow Replay and Keep in Chat. The reply is automatically set to Allow Replay, but if you don’t want the recipient to replay your response after they view it, you can select the option you prefer by simply tapping on it.
To send your response to more friends, tap Send to others in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
If you’d like to download your reply, tap the icon with a downward-facing arrow at the top of the screen. This will save your image or video on your phone.
What Else Can You Do With Your Visual Reply?
The visual reply feature has similar functionality to Instagram Stories. This includes all the usual creative options to spruce up your reply.
Add a GIF, music, stickers, and a whole lot more. Add text to your selfie by tapping on the screen and typing, as you would do when uploading an Instagram Story. To access more features, simply swipe up and play around.
By extending the same functionality in messages that you’re accustomed to in Stories, Instagram gives you the ability to engage with your friends and followers privately the same way you would publicly in Stories.
This makes your private chats less formal and more engaging, and allows you to enjoy a more consistent experience across the app.
In expanding its interactive features to Direct Messages, Instagram is taking another page from Snapchat’s playbook.
And this isn’t the first time either. Instagram Stories, after all, is a copycat version of Snapchat Stories that expire after a day.
Keeping Up With a Competitive, Ever-Growing Market
Social media apps are becoming more interactive by the day. As more apps enter the market with unique, fresher functionalities that social media users hop on to, older apps like Instagram have no choice but to adapt and compete on the same level.
Instagram is doing just that with its addition of the private reply functionalities, following in the footsteps of Snapchat and the like.