How to Turn Off Instagram Instants to Stop the Worry When Opening DMs

Instagram has recently rolled out a new feature called Instants in Indonesia. A BeReal-style feature that lets users send a ‘pap’ or real-time activity photo without edits. The feature appears on the right-hand side of the Direct Messages tab on Instagram. What sets Instants apart is that it offers a one-view photo option. So, once opened, the photo will disappear from the Instants stack or, if not viewed, it will disappear after 24 hours. Since its release, the internet has divided into two camps. The first camp comprises those who are happy that Instagram now has a BeReal- or Snapchat-like feature directly in DMs. On social media, memes and parodies circulated of people instinctively covering their front cameras, turning the phone away, or quickly turning their face away every time they opened an IG DM. For users in the ‘second camp’ — the paranoid ones — Instagram actually provides an option to hide the Instants feature so opening DMs feels calmer. The steps are simple: After enabled, Instants will disappear from the DM view. Besides being completely turned off, Instants can also be hidden temporarily. To do this, open a DM and swipe the Instants icon to the right. The icon will disappear immediately, allowing the user to open the DM without hesitation. However, this is temporary. If the user navigates to another tab such as Timeline, Reels, or the profile, and then returns to the DM, the Instants icon will reappear automatically. So the user will need to swipe it again if they want to keep hiding the feature. Users can only upload photos taken with Instants’ built-in shutter camera; you cannot select from the device gallery. If you think the Instants ‘pap’ result is poor, you can delete it right away. Here’s how: In Instants, friends can react and reply similarly to Instagram Stories, and these will appear in the user’s DM. Here’s how: