New Messaging Features Now Available on Instagram and Messenger

Today, features that are part of the new messaging experience on Instagram are now available.

The first – Watch Together – is available now. When you update to the new messaging experience on Instagram, you and your friends can tune into IGTV, Reels and TV shows, movies and trending videos in real-time over video chat. We’re also bringing two new show series with Grammy-nominated superstar Post Malone and digital creator Avani Gregg, Post Malone’s Celebrity World Pong League and Here for It with Avani Gregg, exclusively to Messenger and Instagram through Messenger’s Watch Together.

To start watching “Here for It With Avani Gregg” or “Post Malone’s Celebrity World Pong League” with your friends, simply start a video chat in Instagram or Messenger or create a Messenger Room. In an Instagram video chat, tap the media button in the bottom right and select the ‘TV & Movies’ tab. In a Messenger video chat, swipe up to access the menu, select Watch Together then select the ‘TV & Movies’ tab. From there you can select various content, including Avani and Post’s shows.

The second feature we’re rolling out is chat themes such as tie-dye and love so that you can personalize your conversations. One theme is a special chat experience on Messenger and Instagram with TinyTAN, a group of lovable characters created from the seven members of BTS. Once you update to the new experience, you’ll be able to activate the TinyTAN chat theme on Instagram and Messenger. Express your affection with 💜 emojis, share your favorite songs from the new album, or customize your message reactions for your perfect TinyTAN-themed chat.

You can activate the TinyTAN chat theme on Instagram and Messenger in your chat settings by tapping Theme and selecting TinyTAN.

The third, vanish mode, is coming soon and is an opt-in feature that makes seen messages disappear after you leave a chat thread. Sometimes a message is spontaneous – something you want to share in the moment without worrying about it sticking around. Now you can send memes, GIFs or reactions to share what you really think but can’t always say, without it staying in your chat history. To turn it on, just swipe up in an existing chat thread – and you’re in vanish mode. Swipe up again and you’re back to your regular chat.

We designed vanish mode with safety and choice top of mind, so you are in control of your experience. To start, only people who are following each other on Instagram or who are connected on Messenger can use vanish mode in one-on-one chats. Vanish mode is also optional: you choose whether you enter vanish mode with someone. If someone takes a screenshot of your chat while you’re using vanish mode, you’ll be notified. And as always, you can block someone or report a conversation if you feel unsafe.

We’re slowly rolling out vanish mode on Messenger and Instagram. Vanish mode is now available on Messenger in the US and a handful of other countries, and it’s coming soon to countries in the EU. Vanish mode on Instagram will be coming to the US and other countries soon, when you update to the new Messenger experience.

Watch Together and chat themes are just a few of the ten new messaging features, including selfie stickers, custom emoji reactions, animated message effects, and message controls, now available globally to anyone who chooses to update to the new Messenger experience on Instagram.

With this update, you can now reach your friends and family whether they’re on Instagram or Messenger, and you can control where you receive messages and calls, such as in your chats or in your message requests.

Stay tuned for more features coming soon to help you stay connected to those that matter most to you.