Instagram Testing Standalone Direct Messaging App, Hinting at Potential Removal of DMs From Core App

[MacRumors]

Following in the footsteps of parent company Facebook, Instagram is beginning a test in six countries today that will see the launch of a new standalone app called "Direct," which will be solely focused on direct messaging friends and family members. As reported by The Verge, this could be the "first step" toward potentially removing messaging features from the main Instagram app.

Chile, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, and Uruguay will get Direct on iOS and Android today, and if you download the app there and link it to your Instagram account, then your inbox in the core Instagram app "disappears" and can then only be accessed in Direct. Instagram currently has "no timeline" for a global launch outside of these countries, but said that its reason for segmenting off Direct in a test is to create a "best-in-class" experience for private messaging, which could not be possible inside a social-sharing application.

Image via The Verge​

"We want Instagram to be a place for all of your moments, and private sharing with close friends is an important part of that," Hemal Shah, an Instagram product manager, told me. "Direct has grown within Instagram over the past four years, but we can make it even better if it stands on its own. We can push the boundaries to create the fastest and most creative space for private sharing when Direct is a camera-first, standalone app."

Direct is said to open to a camera like Snapchat, encouraging you to send photo messages to friends, and then you can swipe to go left to see your profile and settings, or right to navigate to your list of recent contacts. Direct also includes all of the usual filters, doodle tools, and photo effects Instagram has launched in stories and picture editing over the past year, as well as four new exclusive filters. "That's the whole app," according to The Verge, which also reported on a new way to easily jump between Direct and Instagram.

Still, there are some nice touches. Designers built what might be the niftiest app transition I've ever seen: If you start swiping to the right of the Direct inbox, an Instagram logo pops begins to peak out from the side of the app. Swipe all the way to the right and Direct will open Instagram. Similarly, you can swipe right in Instagram to reveal the Direct logo -- a modified version of the paper-plane logo Instagram has long used for messages -- and completing your swipe will take you back to Direct.

Since Facebook broke off Messenger into its own app in 2014, the company has added in chat bots, games, location sharing, ephemeral stories, online friend statuses, group video chat, and more. It's expected that Direct will also expand in a similar way if Instagram goes through with a global launch of the new app, which is starting off barebones in its test, leaving room for the company to "make it even better," according to Instagram product manager Hemal Shah.

Article Link: Instagram Testing Standalone Direct Messaging App, Hinting at Potential Removal of DMs From Core App

 

[SamGabbay]

No.

 

[dan9700]

Social media has become a joke and so cluttered

 

[riverfreak]

Still haven’t installed the Facebook messenger app and never will. I haven’t deleted my account but have disconnected all apps and 3rd party logins and never actually log in to Facebook anymore. I’ll return when they start paying me for the data I provide them.

 

[iModFrenzy]

Just like Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct will end up buried in my app folders. Shame too because I actually use the direct messaging feature on Instagram to send posts to friends or just chat. I don't need a separate app for that.

 

[juanjohnjean]

So they are trying to compete with Snapchat by copying them? Sad move.

 

[Saturnine]

Given the tight integration between Instagram and Facebook, why not just merge the direct messaging systems?

I’m sure it was considered but, whatever their reasons, you can be sure it’s not for the benefit of their users.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

So they are trying to compete with Snapchat by copying them? Sad move.

They're actually crushing Snapchat. Growth of Snapchat has slowed to a halt and they're struggling as a company. They're in a very bad spot and their stock is taking a crap. Instagram on the other hand is seeing HUGE growth (they did in 5 months what it took Snapchat 5 years to grow) and it's not stopping at this point. They far surpassed Snapchat months ago and left them in the dust.

 

[DanielDD]

Instagram was the "perfect" social media platform a couple of years ago. No sharing button encouraged original content. Lack of read and typing indicators made Direct my go to service to chat with my friends.

Facebook is destroying the app with their attempt to make Instagram as a catch all social media service.

 

[scrapesleon]

Deleted Facebook then proceed to delete Instagram what’s next WhatsApp

 

[Luckyman770]

It’s becoming too many shoes in the closet...

 

[Xavier]

I could get on board with removing the messaging features and getting back to the way Instagram was originally. I liked scrolling through photos with less clutter.

 

[5105973]

I’m wasnt thrilled with how FB ripped Messenger out and made it a stand alone app. Then I decided I could see the benefits after all, and used it with my friends for awhile. But very quickly they cluttered it up with data mining crap and intrusive features. I thought I was just old and grumpy in my negative reaction and quick dumping of FB and their messaging app.

But my millennial nieces and nephews said they were irritated by it all, too.

I do perceive among my friends and family a “connectedness overload” and think social media overplayed their hand by adding on too many features that allowed people to become too intrusive on each other’s personal space.

It becomes harder to politely decline allowing oneself to have their online status or physical location tracked, or the pressure to acknowledge all of your friends’ posts becomes too demanding when you just want to sit back and relax. So it can become more attractive for some of us to opt out of social media at all.

Sometimes we just need our time and our schedules and our thoughts to ourselves and it’s very unpleasant to be tethered to a service that is doing its damnedest to pry those things out of us and distribute it all to the world.

 

[bradkrischel]

I'd love an Instagram app that was free of Stories and DMs. Instagram was so much more enjoyable when it was just pictures and comments

 

[Avieshek]

Stop that Mark Zuckerberg turning into a Mad Scientist!

 

[tmoRumors]

I have not installed FB Messenger on purpose, and will probably end up doing the same for the Instagram DM app. Splitting functionalities over several apps seems to also come with an inflation to the cumulative size of those apps... 240M of storage space for the latest FB app update taken alone !

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Instagram was the "perfect" social media platform a couple of years ago. No sharing button encouraged original content. Lack of read and typing indicators made Direct my go to service to chat with my friends.

Facebook is destroying the app with their attempt to make Instagram as a catch all social media service.

It started going downhill when FB bought them. They accelerated the slide into a free fall when they allowed green bubble people in. Then came the non-chronological feed that you can't disable (so now I rarely see anything outside of from a handful of people.

This will just be the last nail in the coffin.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Instagram was the "perfect" social media platform a couple of years ago. No sharing button encouraged original content. Lack of read and typing indicators made Direct my go to service to chat with my friends.

Facebook is destroying the app with their attempt to make Instagram as a catch all social media service.

You might think so but indications are that your thinking is in the minority. Usage of Instagram keeps growing thanks to these new features. Like any product, they have to keep building on it. You can't just let the current features stand and hope people keep using the platform.

This is a company that has been able to build their network to attract more than 2 billion people a day. They didn't grow that big by not knowing what people want.
[doublepost=1512659532][/doublepost]

It started going downhill when FB bought them. They accelerated the slide into a free fall when they allowed green bubble people in. Then came the non-chronological feed that you can't disable (so now I rarely see anything outside of from a handful of people.

This will just be the last nail in the coffin.

Yeah, they're sure killing Instagram. Look at how everyone is leaving in droves.

 

[DanielDD]

You might think so but indications are that your thinking is in the minority. Usage of Instagram keeps growing thanks to these new features. Like any product, they have to keep building on it. You can't just let the current features stand and hope people keep using the platform.

If this video is any proof, popularity does not mean anything

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

You might think so but indications are that your thinking is in the minority. Usage of Instagram keeps growing thanks to these new features. Like any product, they have to keep building on it. You can't just let the current features stand and hope people keep using the platform.

This is a company that has been able to build their network to attract more than 2 billion people a day. They didn't grow that big by not knowing what people want.
[doublepost=1512659532][/doublepost]

Yeah, they're sure killing Instagram. Look at how everyone is leaving in droves.

We could also show similar graphs of Android and Windows 10 growth and market share compared to iOS and MacOS. Does that mean Google and MS are doing everything right for their customers? Things like privacy or preferences often don’t align with profit, especially on social media.

 

[0003939]

I do not really like the current Instagram app now, being both a mobile data and battery drainer. Stories is the major factors that turn me off. The only reason I kept Instagram is to keep in contact with few friends after trashing away Facebook. This is definitely a welcome for me.

 

[CarpalMac]

Another messaging app? Yes, that is definitely a well spotted gap in the market. Wish I had thought of it.

 

[coolkid93]

Just another app to download and add to folder that I will never use. This is stupid

 

[x-evil-x]

Instagrams dm Chat is really really bad. It’s very basic. I’ve never liked it much for talking to people like iMessage has tons of fun things to do with people same with messages app for Facebook. Instagram could use a big overhaul in the messaging part of their app.
I’d rarher chat with most people on Facebook messenger especially android users. I never like texting them anymore. iMessage should just take over all of them

 

[bradkrischel]

You might think so but indications are that your thinking is in the minority. Usage of Instagram keeps growing thanks to these new features. Like any product, they have to keep building on it. You can't just let the current features stand and hope people keep using the platform.

This is a company that has been able to build their network to attract more than 2 billion people a day. They didn't grow that big by not knowing what people want.
[doublepost=1512659532][/doublepost]

Yeah, they're sure killing Instagram. Look at how everyone is leaving in droves.

Gaining daily active users doesn't necessarily mean they aren't making bad long-term decisions. Myspace had great growth for a long time until they didn't... in 2006, more people visited Myspace than Google