Death to Snapchat. Instagram Direct adds disappearing video/photo feature

The disappearing messages feature which was recently introduced on the new Instagram direct has been designed to aid the growth that has been observed in the number of users on Instagram Direct. As opposed to the normal way DM’s (direct messages) work, the developers have added ‘visual’ temporary messages which works with permanent DMs in your Direct inbox. So, you can infuse a direct message with either a disappearing photo or video in your post.

Sending a “disappearing message” isn’t that much of a big deal, the steps are quite similar to that of sending a direct message. However, you should be using the Instagram 10.16 version to have access to the feature.

– Tap on the top left corner of the screen or swipe right from anywhere in Feed. You can also go to your inbox to reply to messages you’ve received.

– Tap the circle at the bottom of the screen to take a photo or video, then choose to add effects.

– Tap the bottom right, then select people or groups you’d like to send to

– When you select multiple people, they’ll each get separate, individual messages.

– When you select a group, it starts a single group conversation that anyone in the group can reply to. To create a new group, tap New Group in the top right corner, select people then tap ‘Create’.

– Tap Send at the bottom of the screen.

On the other hand, to view a disappearing video or photo you sent tap at the top-right of Feed and tap the conversation. You would not be able to view disappearing photos or videos after you might have sent them, but you will see it as part of your conversation in direct message like “You sent a photo”. You can also see if the messages were delivered, opened, replayed or if someone took a screenshot. Just like on Snapchat.

With this new addition, it would be fast and easy to turn any conversation into a visual conversation with photos and videos. Of course, you can Texts and re-share post, such posts will appear with disappearing photos and videos. Interestingly, when you receive new disappearing messages, they’ll become blue in your inbox. You can tap to view them and replay them once. The sender will be notified if you replayed or took a screenshot of the message.

As it stands, you can only send disappearing photos or videos to people who follow you or have already approved messages from you. However, it does not mean that people who don’t follow you cannot view your messages, it drops as a request in their inbox and they have the option to either accept or decline.

Note: Direct messages and disappearing photo or videos are mutually exclusive but are different features. Messages sent via Direct messages would remain visible for as long as you would like.