You Can Soon Change The Color Of Your Instagram DMs — Here’s How

Instagram just released a slew of new features that are going to make Messenger a more expressive mode of communication. With chat themes on Instagram Messenger, you can pick from a variety of color gradients to make your outgoing messages ~a vibe~.

The changes come as part of Instagram's latest makeover, which links your IG DMs with your Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Along with changing the color of the chats, you can also turn on "vanish mode" to disappear conversations, use selfie stickers, and more. "The main change is that people using the Messenger app can now reach you on Instagram without you needing to download a new app, and vice versa," the company shared in a blog post. "You can also control where you receive messages and calls, such as in your chats, in your message requests, or not at all."

To give your messages a theme, simply tap the information icon on the upper right hand corner of the chat window. Under Chat Settings, you'll see Theme. Tap this and scroll through a selection of colors and combinations to immediately change the way your messages look. The default theme that you've already been using is a mix of purples and blues that you can always return to. But the basic blue bubble is so yesterday.

You can change your custom theme as many times as you want, and the other people in the conversation will see the changes reflected not only in your most recent messages but also the message history.

The theme you pick for one conversation will not affect the themes of others, so you can also use themes to organize your chats. "Pride" for friends, "Sushi" for lovers, "Classic" for business, "Ocean" for family. Or use color themes to present your mood. "Rose" for flirting, "Tropical" for casual meme banter, "Lavender" for calming late night chats. There are no rules.

Instagram is testing the features in select countries, rolling out globally soon, so if you don't see the option after updating your app, be patient — you'll get access to the whole rainbow of chat themes soon.