Facebook has been planning to integrate the Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp chat platform for some time now, and it looks like its finally underway. Select Instagram users in the U.S. were notified of a “new way to message” on the popular photo-sharing social network, which merges the app’s chat feature with Facebook Messenger.
This change means that Instagram users will soon be able to chat with Facebook users and vice versa. The merger also brings some previously-exclusive Messenger features to Instagram, such as colorful chats, more emoji reactions, and swipe-to-reply. Also, the old paper airplane DM icon that used to be in the top-right corner of the Instagram UI has been replaced with the Facebook Messenger logo.
However, it’s worth noting that this is a work-in-progress, as currently it is not possible to message Facebook users from Instagram. The plan is to merge all of these apps together as a means of increasing their userbase, while keeping them in the Facebook ecosystem and away from rivals texting apps.
It remains to be seen when the merge is fully functional, but we’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available.
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