After announcing last week that the Instagram Subscriptions service has reached one million users worldwide, the Meta-owned social media platform said it is testing a new feature for its direct message (DM) feature. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a post on an Instagram Broadcast channel that the company is testing the ability to turn off read receipts in DM.
The feature seems similar to Meta’s messaging app WhatsApp, where users can turn off read receipts for messages. However, users who turn off read receipts will also not be able to see read receipts from other people as well.
Instagram Testing New Feature For DM
Instagram is testing turning off read receipts in DM. Mosseri said that the feature is being tested based on feedback from users and that it could roll out soon. “We heard your feedback. and have started testing a new feature that lets you turn read receipts off in your DMs,” Mosseri said in the post.
He also posted a screenshot, which shows how the feature will work. The ability to turn off read receipts will likely be added to the ‘Privacy & Safety’ section on Instagram. A new ‘Read Receipt’ option with a toggle to switch it on can be seen in the ‘Who can see your activity’ tab.
The description of the ‘Read receipts’ option reads, “Others can see when you’ve read their messages.” Users can use the toggle to turn on or turn off read receipts for their DM. “Soon, people will be able to choose when to let others see when they’ve read their messages,” the post read.
When turned off, others will not be able to see if they’ve read their messages or not. As of now, Instagram shows by default, a read receipt for all messages. Users can go into their DMs and see if someone they’ve sent a message to has ‘Seen’ it or not. However, it looks like this is about to change with the new feature. The screenshot also shows a chat in a user’s DM where the ‘Seen’ read receipt can no longer be seen.
It is unclear at this point whether ‘Read receipts’ will function in the same way as on WhatsApp. This means it remains to be seen whether users who turn off their read receipts will be able to see whether other people have seen their message or not.
As of now, it seems like Instagram is only testing the feature. An official rollout timeline is unclear at this point. However, Mosseri did hint at an imminent launch in his post.
Instagram Testing Several New Features
Instagram is experimenting with several new features to make its platform more interactive. last month, it started testing a feature where followers can request to add photos or videos to a user’s carousel. A new functionality where a user can allow their Instagram followers to add content to their feed posts was seen in a screenshot posted by Mosseri. Of course, the photos or videos that the followers submit will need to be approved by the user before they are added to their post.
Prior to this Instagram announced that it was experimenting with a new way to explore Instagram feeds with an option to see posts from only those accounts which are ‘Meta Verified’. In addition to options to see posts from accounts a user follows or are his favourites, a new option to see posts only from ‘Meta Verified’ accounts can be seen in a screenshot as well.
