Instagram Direct, private Instagram messages: how it works and tricks

Instagram Direct, private Instagram messages: how it works and tricks

When we talk about I we refer to the private messages section of Instagram and this time we are going to tell you a little more in detail about how it works, some tricks you should know to get the most out of it and other things.

This section is the one that allows us to send and receive messages from another Instagram profile privately, so that we can contact someone through there unless they have blocked us because then they can't be contacted.




Not only can you have conversations with just one person, but you can also create groups, just like you do on WhatsApp, although there is a limit of 15 people. You can use them from your mobile, although you can easily use Instagram Direct from your computer.

Via Instagram Direct you can send texts, emojis, audio messages, images and even GIFs, although if you prefer you can also send the person you contact with an image that you have just taken with your mobile camera.

Similarly, you can also make a private video call with that contact and see the last time they logged into this section of Instagram. During conversation you have the option to react to a message with a heart by double tapping.

send a private message to someone on Instagram via Instagram Direct, do the following:

  1. Open Instagram and go to the section that has a house icon. Now swipe the screen to the left and it opens the direct messages section or you can too click on the icon which in this case has the shape of a paper airplane.



  1. Subsequently, in the search box, write the profile name of the person you want to send a message to and click on it, the private conversation will open.


  1. Now you just have to write the text you want accompanied, if you want, by an emoji, an image, a video, etc. That conversation will be saved in the Instagram Direct section.

Once you know how this works, there are a few things you should know, little ones tricks to be able to perfectly manage Instagram Direct and that in a short time you will become an expert in this section of the social network, they will certainly be of great help to you at any moment.

Turn off incoming privates

One of the things you can do with private messages is silence them, i.e. you can silence a conversation completely and so you don't notice the messages arrive until you go to read them by entering the section within your Instagram.

To mute a private chat, just enter Instagram Direct and swipe the conversation to the left with your finger, the will appear option to «deactivate the sound», which in this case you must press to make it silent, although you can cancel this action later.

See what time you sent and received a message

Within a private conversation in Instagram Direct there is the possibility of see what time you sent and received one type of emoji from the other person, image, text or other. Although the time is not visible, simply swiping your finger to the left will show it.



See the last time you logged into Instagram

If you've chatted privately with someone on Instagram, you can find out the last time she was connected to Instagram entering the chat with that person. At the top you will see that it appears the script “active x minutes ago” or similar.


This means that you entered Instagram, but not specifically Instagram Direct, but maybe you watched the feed or did something else. Plus, you'll know it's connected at that moment because it says "active (at) now" or a little green icon appears on the photo.

Create a private group

As mentioned at the beginning, through Instagram Direct you can too send the same message to several people and for this you can create a group, which is done in the following way:

  1. Log in to Instagram Direct and click the pencil icon above.

  1. Now go selecting the people that appear in the list or search profiles by searching with those people you want to be part of the group. When you have it, click on «chat» and the group conversation will have been created for talking.

Delete a private chat

In case you use Instagram Direct a lot, your conversation list will stay there, but you can delete those older chats if you wish, although it will still be on the recipients mobile. It's a way to keep this section cleaner.



To delete a conversation, all you have to do is swipe the conversation to the left and click on the «delete» option that appears.

Find out if you have any pending private messages

If you sign in to Instagram Direct you can know if you have pending unread messages, just enter Instagram and go to the house icon, above you will see the airplane icon with a red number, if it appears it means that they have arrived private that you have not read


Block and report a user

From Instagram Direct you can also block and report any user, useful actions when they annoy you with too many messages too often or if you receive a message from an unknown user that you might consider spam, inappropriate content, etc.

You just have to enter the conversation itself and click on the information icon above, you will enter a menu where you can block and report that person.

Cancel sending a message

You knew you could unsend a private message sent from Instagram? The sooner you cancel the shipment, as happens in WhatsApp, the more chances that the recipient has not yet had time to read it, so you should hurry to cancel it.

To do this, all you have to do is enter the conversation in question, leave the message pressed for a few seconds and click on the “cancel delivery” option to delete it.

Read messages without their knowledge

If you have noticed, when you send a private message to someone you will see that they have read it because the word "seen" appears. Now, if you want to read a message they send you without the text appearing to the user, put your phone on airplane mode to read it.

After turning on airplane mode, go to Instagram and navigate to the conversation in question that you want to read, but don't want the person to know you've already read the message. If you want you can try it first with one of your friends or family.

View pending message requests

In the of Instagram private messages there is another section where you can see the direct messages that some Instagram users send you, but for some reason they don't appear in the main message bar.

They are called " requests for messages » and, unlike the others, they wait for you to read them, but the senders don't know you've read them until you accept the message request, although you can delete it if you're not interested.

To see them you must enter Instagram, then go to the private messages section and if you have any requests the writing «x request» will appear and inside it you will be able to see what you have pending.

View the list of GIFs from the same creator

There is one feature that many are unaware of and that is to know the list of GIFs from the creator of one of them and you can do it from Instagram Direct itself. When sending or receiving a GIF, if you long press it, you'll see an option called "see all from creator" and when you press it, you'll be able to see everything that person has created.

Double-tap to send a reaction

A quick trick you should know is the double tap to send a reaction to a private message sent to you, only a heart is sent in this case because it is the only reaction available so far.

Perhaps it has already become very clear to you what it is I, what it is for and what tricks you can implement to get the most out of this section of Instagram, which continues to be a sort of simple but effective private messaging utility.


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