Instagram is testing Direct Messages for its web interface; a boon for iPad users

If sharing memes and chatting with friends on **Instagram** is your kind of thing then there’s news for you. As per a little bit of digging by an app researcher, Instagram is internally testing its direct message feature on the web. For those who do check on Instagram’s comparatively barebones web interface, there’s very little one can do apart from scrolling through your feed, checking on notifications or looking for something more specific. There’s still no option to upload photos or to share a story. [caption id=“attachment_5574681” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Instagram Logo art.[/caption] While Instagram has stated in the past that there are “no plans to let users upload photos or stories from the desktop” anytime soon, other features will be slowly but steadily make its way to the web interface. Direct messages will be one such feature that will be added to the interface soon.

Instagram is testing Direct on Web pic.twitter.com/bpdY9bep24

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 12, 2019

Discovered on Twitter by Jane Manchun Wong, the web interface allowing DMs will be a blessing for those using an iPad. Instagram does not have an iPad app, which makes the web interface their only fallback. Instagram’s internal testing of the feature on the web also comes as Facebook is reportedly planning to merge WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram messaging threads. This makes sense for those who choose to rely on Instagram Direct and would, therefore, need some way to access it outside the official Instagram app. There’s no official word on when the Direct Message feature will be rolled out for web users, but given that Instagram has remotely disabled the feature, for now, suggests that the feature could be nearing an announcement soon.