Instagram continues to evolve and with the latest update comes a great new feature for chats, which in turn brings new possibilities for users of the platform
Facebook continues to develop the Instagram app, putting new features in the code that make it more convenient and more useful to use. In particular, Facebook is tightly integrating the Instagram platform with that of Messenger, to allow users of the two worlds to communicate with each other as if they were on a single platform.
Last year, the first piece of this strategy was announced, and then launched: Instagram and Messenger users can chat with each other using their apps, without having to necessarily download the other. According to Facebook, the thing has worked: more than 70% of users who were able to try this feature have already done so. Now comes another novelty: Instagram users can participate in Messenger group chats (and vice versa). It was the last missing piece for the total integration between Instagram Direct and Messenger, also because this new feature brings with it more new features for Instagrammers, such as polls and the Watch Together "Cross-Platform". To enable all these new features, you need to update the app: if they're not there yet, then it's only a matter of days, if not hours.
Instagram and Messenger: group chats
With the latest update to the Instagram and Messenger apps, there's no longer any platform difference for users of either service: Facebook calls this "Cross-app communication". With this update, people can initiate group chats between their Instagram and Messenger contacts.
Not only Instagram users can join Messenger group chats, it's also possible to do the opposite: the Instagram user can create a group chat by choosing participants from users of both platforms, as long as they are among his contacts. From the interface point of view, nothing changes, as well as for the controls dedicated to privacy.
The Instagram user can still choose who to be contacted by, who can send him a message, a call or an invitation to a group chat or videochat. In addition, it is now possible to see in real time which users of the group chat are writing something: the icons of their profiles appear next to the three dots that move.
The other new features of Instagram
Since last year on both Instagram and Messenger is available the feature "Watch Together", which is used to watch a video posted on Facebook, even live, together with other friends within a group chat. With the integration between Instagram and Messenger, therefore, now the Watch Together also becomes "cross-platform": basically, an Instagram user can watch a content together with friends, regardless of whether they have an Instagram or Messenger profile.
But that's not all: to make the procedure easier, the ability to watch content directly from the Instagram feed, together with friends, has been introduced. Simply start a video chat within Instagram, scroll down to the post you want to share, then click the share button and activate Watch Together directly from your feed.