Instagram Help Center

With Instagram Direct, you can send messages, photos and videos to one or more people. Messages won’t appear in Feed, search or your profile.

To send a message using Instagram Direct:

1. Tap or in the top right or swipe left from anywhere in Feed.
2. Tap in the top right.
3. Select people you'd like to send a message to, then tap Chat.
4. Type a message. You can also tap to take and send a disappearing photo or video, or to select a photo or video from your library.
5. Tap Send.

To message someone you follow, you can also go to their profile and tap Message.

Note: Links you send using Instagram Direct will appear in the conversation with a preview image. When you send an address or phone number, you can tap it from within the conversation to open your phone’s maps app or make a call.

Keep in mind, Instagram accounts you message may use third party apps or automated services to send messages in Direct.