Instagram is one of the most popular social media today. The whole world is on it and loving it. Seeing its popularity reach new heights, the social media platform does not back down from giving the app new updates that are well-loved and received by its users.
Why Is Everyone On Instagram?
Instagram is a prominent social media platform for users to acquire and lose popularity. Hashtags have entered the lexicon of the modern age. Every life narrative is told via likes and comments, with the help of #Hashtags. In less than a decade, Instagram has grown into a massively popular picture-sharing app and social network. It rivals Facebook in terms of user numbers, with billions and counting. What is it about Instagram that makes it so popular among its active users all around the world? There are various reasons behind this.
- Instagram is very simple to use. The UI is beautiful, interesting, and easy to comprehend and follow. This may not seem to be a big argument to some since our eyes are used to viewing the “nice material” on these applications.
- When compared to its rivals, Instagram is the only software that enables its users to benefit from popularity. It has given its users a platform to swiftly and easily gain popularity among other users. Its integration with Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites has given individuals a broader platform to showcase their skills, no matter what they may be.
- Instagram is without a doubt the next-generation marketplace. In terms of creative work demand and supply, it has functioned as a bridge for buyers and sellers to traverse. Several people may be seen photographing their products and selling them with pricing and other purchase information.
Reacting To Messages On Instagram
Social media is one of the few places where we do not need to use words to express our emotions. However, before Instagram was a part of Meta or Facebook, you could only react to messages by using a heart emoji or double-tapping on it. After Facebook acquired Instagram in 2022, it gave the app a few much-needed updates. One of them was to use emojis to react to messages. Along with the option of reacting with the help of emojis, Facebook also integrated several of Messenger’s features with Instagram to make the messaging aspect of Instagram better. A few of these updates included merging and texting your Facebook friends via Instagram if they are on both, different varieties of emojis to react to texts and even customized emojis.
Let us find out how you can react to messages on Instagram without using words. You can follow these steps to get emojis on your Instagram:
1. Instagram app update
Now, why do you need to update the app if it is already working fine? A very simple answer to this question is that the latest version of the app will include all the latest features as well as better safety and security systems. Sometimes a company simply updates an app to remove a particular bug or fix any error. However, oftentimes companies like Meta introduce updates to add new and improved features to the app.
To ensure that you have the latest feature you can simply go to the Google Play Store if you are an Android user or app store if you have an iPhone. You can check in the settings whether your app needs an update or not. If you do not have the feature to use an emoji to react to Direct messages or DMs, one of the most common reasons is that you are using an old version of the app.
Here is how to update the app so you can enjoy the latest version:
- Go to the settings option on your Instagram app.
- Locate the settings option and click on it.
- In there you will find an option of ‘update messaging’.
- Simply click on it.
- Two options will pop up as a result; update and not now.
- Click on the update option.
- After the app is updated you will see that you have now the options to use custom and normal emojis to react to our DMs.
If you are still confused, you can also update the app from the Google Play Store or App Store. Here is how to do it:
- Go to the Google Play store or app store
- Go to the settings option, you will find an option stating installed apps. In the case of the app store (as well as Google play store), you can also simply tap the name of the app you want to update, in this it is Instagram and you can find out whether or not it needs an update.
- Click on that option, you will find a list of all the apps that need to be updated.
- Click on the Instagram app and click on update.
- Your app will be updated within a few minutes. Now you can wait for the updated version to install.
- After it has been installed, you can see that your app now has all the new features to help you react to messages while using different kinds of emojis.
Having the latest version will help you enjoy all the new features so that you are never late for the latest trends. You can use emojis to react to your DMs, you can even customize different emojis to fit your vibe and you can simply text people to further express yourself.
2. Open a chat
After having updated your Instagram app to the latest version, now you must be wondering how I can access the emojis. The first step is to open up the chat in which you want to use the emoji. To do this, simply tap on a plane-like icon on the top right-hand corner of the app. After you tap on the icon, you will find the list of your chats ranging from the most recent to the last chat. You can click on the chat you want to react to.
3. Find the emojis
Now that you have opened the chatbox and the text you want to react to is glaring right in your face, the next step is to bring up the emojis you want to use as a reaction. The easiest and oldest way to react to a DM is to simply double-tap on it. By double-tapping on the text, you can send a heart emoji as a reaction. However, this way of reacting to a message on Instagram is very old and outdated.
What else you can do is tap on the DM once and hold the text, a list of emojis will appear on the screen. You can easily choose the one you prefer and react with it. In case you cannot see the list of emojis, don’t fret, just go and check if you have connected your Facebook account with your Instagram account or not. After Instagram merged with Meta, it has given Instagram many features of Messenger therefore, it has become compulsory for the users to merge their accounts on both platforms to use the features of Messenger. In case you haven’t merged the accounts, the following is a very simple way to do this:
- Go to the setting option on the Instagram app.
- Find the Account option.
- In the accounts option, as you will scroll down you will find an option called ‘sharing to other apps.
- Click on the option to find a list of social media platforms.
- Click on Facebook. Here you will find your Facebook account as well. Ensure that the mentioned account is your account and click on the continue option to merge your accounts on both platforms.
Now that your accounts are connected and you can have access to the list of emojis, you can click on any of the following emojis to react to DMs.
4. React with an Emoji
After your accounts are merged and your app has been updated, you will find that your option to react to texts has increased significantly. You can either use a heart emoji to react or even use several other emojis to react to DMs. Now if you are bored of using the same default heart emoji again and again. Here is a simple way of changing it:
- Tap on the DM you want to react to.
- Do not remove your finger, keep on holding it, you will see a list of emojis appearing on the screen.
- Now from the list of the emojis, locate the heart emoji and keep on holding it.
- Choose the emoji that you want to replace the heart emoji with.
- Press on it and click done.
- Your default emoji has been changed from heart to something of your preference.
Sometimes while reacting with an emoji, we find ourselves wishing that we had reacted in some other way or with some other emoji. In case you have double-tapped on a DM and reacted with your default emoji, you can easily remove the reaction and use another way to react. Here is how to do it:
- Tap on the emoji you reacted with.
- You will find that an option pops up that says ‘tap to remove’.
- Click on it and the emoji used as a reaction will be removed. You can now react in an entirely new way and no one will know.
5. Use customized emojis
Now that you know the basic rules, let’s move on to something more complex, ‘customized emojis’. Customized emojis help you stand out and express yourself more uniquely. often we want to react with a special emoji and cannot find them as they are not on the recent page and we have to go through numerous sections of emojis to find the one we wanted to use. Customized emojis can help you react faster as they are all in one place and are pretty easy to find. Here is how you can customize your emoji and react to messages on Instagram with their help:
- The first step as always is to tap on the DM you want to react to.
- A list of emojis will pop up that will contain all the recently used emojis along with a + sign too.
- Tap on the + sign and add much as and whatever emoji you want to the list.
Now that your emoji list is customized you won’t have to go through the number of sections to find your favorite emoji and you can simply use the emojis you have added to the list to easily react to messages on Instagram. You can also have as many emojis you want in the future in this way.
Few Additional Thoughts
The above-mentioned information is only useful for the Instagram app used on mobile phones. Instagram apps on PC or laptops are used very differently and require different instructions. We have added everything about reacting with emojis starting from how to get additional emojis on your app and leading to customized emojis. You can find several additional information including how to delete a reaction and how to merge your Facebook account with your Instagram account too. We hope that the information mentioned in this article has been useful for you.
Reacting to texts on Instagram is a very easy task. But when you utilize emojis, it is easier to engage with people. They provide a new level of excitement to our online experience. It may be difficult or time-consuming at times to express oneself verbally.
However, in such circumstances, using one or more emojis may help us describe our feelings more accurately. The previously stated change about customized emojis and messenger’s features on Instagram has made it easier to react to messages on Instagram using emoticons. With its help, we can create our emoji collection and use it to react to direct communications. This allows us to enjoy our daily conversations on the platform more than ever before. So, why not put this capacity to the test if you have access to it?