You are scrolling your feed on Instagram. As you scroll, you see different photos from your friends and other accounts that you’re following with. Then, you see a photo that captivates your eye, and the first thing that comes into your mind is your friend. You want your friend to see that photo, but you don’t know how. If that’s the case, then this article is for you!
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms today. Instagram’s main function is to share photos, and we could say that it is the best and the most popular photo-sharing social media channel today. The app currently has more than one billion users worldwide, and almost 500 million users have been using Instagram everyday! Now that’s a big number!
Sharing photos is the main function of Instagram, but much like other social media sites, it can also be used for messaging. Instagram has a messaging feature called Direct Messages (DM, for short), where you can send private messages to an account. Not only Instagram is used to share photos to everyone, but it is also used to share photos and send messages to a specific person or a select group.
This article will help you how to send messages on Instagram, what you can and can’t do when sending messages, things you need to know about receiving Instagram messages, and some useful tricks or hacks in sending and receiving Instagram messages.
What Are Instagram Messages?
Instagram messages are those that you sent privately to another account or group in Instagram. It could be in the form of text, photo, video, or a combination of those three. Instagram messages are also called direct messages (or DMs, for short). Instagram Direct is already a feature in the application so it would be easy to spot and use it. Through Instagram Direct, you can send messages to one account or even to many accounts.

Many DM’s get lost in the “requests” inbox, we’ve spoken to a CBD Gummies brand that uses Direct Messages and Instagram influencers as their principal source of traffic, they always recommend a first interaction with a comment so when the recipient replies, you let them know you’re going to continue the conversation privately.
Instagram Direct works privately, so when you send a message to an account or group, the account or group will only see that message. When you send a message from a post that you see in your feed, and the post comes from a private account, the ones who can see it are those who follow that account. People can always see a sent post if the source of the post is public. Messages will not appear in your feed or in your profile, but only appear on Instagram Direct.
Five Easy Steps To Send Instagram DMs
There are five general ways to send a direct message (DM) on Instagram. These are easy and basic ways to send messages.
- Go to your home page (tap the home button which is at the lower left corner of the screen) and then you can either swipe right or tap the paper airplane icon at the top-right corner of the screen to enter Instagram Direct. You can tap a person or you can start a new message by tapping the button at the top-right corner of the screen and enter one or more accounts and then send a message.
- When you see something from your feed and you would like to send the post to someone or to a group privately, you send the post by tapping the paper airplane icon underneath the post. Then you can send the post to anyone or to a group. Use the search button to find the account that you’re looking for. You can also send an additional message by typing your message at the “write a message” portion.
- Open a page on Instagram. It could be an account that you clicked while scrolling in your feed, or it could be an account that appeared in your search button. You can see a “message” button as you enter in the page of the account. Click the “message” button and now you can send a message to that account.
- This one is similar to number three. As you enter the page you will see three dots at the top right corner of your screen. Click that button and it will give you different options. One of those options is “send profile as message.” Click that option when you want to send that particular Instagram profile to someone or to a group.
- You can share hashtags and locations as messages. Open the Instagram search page. (Hint: It’s the magnifying glass icon). Go to tags and places and choose a hashtag or location, or search for a hashtag or location. You will see a paper airplane icon at the top-right of the screen on the selected hashtag or location and as you click that icon you can send the hashtag to anyone.
These simple steps are very easy to follow and as you learn and do these steps you have already known the basics of sending messages on Instagram! But as you know the basics and the more you discover more about Instagram and ways of sending messages on Instagram, you will realize some things that you can’t actually do when sending Instagram messages. Let us help you discover that.
What You Can And Can’t Do When Using Instagram Direct
Before we discuss the things that you can’t do in sending Instagram messages, let us first explore the things that you can do and how you can do it. Here are these things:
- You can unsend a message (could be a text, photo, or video) by holding the message and pressing the “Unsend Message” button. It basically removes the message and once removed, the receiver and sender could not see the message anymore.
- You can send messages or even receive messages even if you don’t follow them or if they don’t follow you. The account will receive a message request and the account will be able to read the message before accepting the message request.
- You will be able to know if the person has read your message. There is a “seen” indicator at the bottom of the latest message and the icon of the receiver will be visible as an indicator of a read message. You can also check the time of delivery of the message and the time the account read your message by swiping right.
- The search button will help you find a piece of information that you need. This will be handy if you forgot who sent that particular message to you.
These are some things that you can do when using Instagram Direct. Now, here are the things that you can’t do when using this feature, and maybe one or two of these things could be a major blow for you.
- You cannot send a direct message using a laptop or a computer. Sending an Instagram message is only possible through the app.
- You also cannot check and read an Instagram message from a website when using a computer. Again, the feature is only available in the app so you can only read DMs by using the app from the phone.
- Although there are tricks in sending a message on Instagram using a computer (which will be discussed later), you still can’t send photo or video files coming from your computer. The messaging feature is still limited.
These things could be a major disadvantage for some, particularly those who are frequently using Instagram in the computer. Unlike other social media sites like Facebook or Twitter where you can still use the messaging feature both in the app and in the computer through a browser, Instagram’s messaging feature could only be used when using the app in the phone. This is actually a way to encourage users to use the app instead of using the website. After all, using the app is still worth it and it gives you a full experience of sharing photos to everyone. But there are some useful hacks to send and check messages using a computer.
Some Useful Instagram DM Hacks
For those who are using Windows 10, you can go to the Microsoft App Store website or application (you can search it by pressing the Windows button) and download the Instagram app. Once downloaded, you can now launch the application, allow permissions such as gaining access to your existing contacts, and sign in to your account. You can now read and send messages using the app!
You can send photos and videos through the camera of your computer (if you have one). It only requires a few steps in setting up the camera and the microphone. Allowing some permissions will make the entire process run more smoothly.
You can also send Instagram messages using Facebook. In the first place, you can sync your Instagram account with your Facebook account. That is why when you post something on Instagram, the post will also appear on Facebook. Now, you can check and send messages through a Facebook page. First is that you must ensure that you’re managing a Facebook page. A page admin can look at and send Instagram messages through the page’s inbox. Now it would be easy and convenient for you to use both Facebook and Instagram, especially in your computer!
Another Useful Hack: Reading Instagram Messages Secretly
You already know that your message has been opened and read by the recipient through some indicators. That’s a helpful feature because at least you know that the recipient had already received the message. But what if the recipient wants to have time to construct his or reply to you? What if the recipient wants to read the message without informing the sender that the message has been read and opened? What if that recipient is you? Maybe these hacks could help:
- Usually, direct messages often appears at the notification bar or section of your phone. You can check the message by looking at the notification. Don’t click the notification, as it will lead you to the message itself! You can also respond to the message with a photo or video without opening the app or the message itself. Simply tap the camera icon on the notification.
- This one is a tricky process. Be sure to do the procedure step-by-step.
If you are able to follow the process, then you are successful! If not, well, you will be able to see the message; better luck next time.
- Go to your inbox.
- Disconnect from the internet first before opening the new message. Make sure that you’re not connected to the internet as you read the message. You can simply disconnect by setting your phone to Airplane Mode.
- Open the message. It is now safe to read the message without the fear of getting it seen.
- Once you’ve finished reading, log out of your Instagram account. Go to your profile page, tap the three dots at the top-right corner of the screen, then tap “Settings,” and then tap “Log Out.”
- Reconnect to the internet once you’ve logged out of your account. You can actually check whether your recipient has already seen the message by logging in to your account and checking your inbox.
Conclusion
Now there you have it! You learned five ways on how to send direct messages on Instagram. Additionally, you found out what kind of messages can you send to others. Not only that, you also read a list of what you can and can’t do when using Instagram Direct. You even learned a hack on how to make “impossible” things possible! Lastly, you also learned how to read direct messages secretly! Now that’s quite an all-in-one package, wouldn’t you agree? We hope that you can use what you read here when you send a message to someone on Instagram!