You Can Now React To IG DMs With Your Favorite Emojis

Just like iMessage's tapbacks, emoji responses to Instagram DMs are a helpful, low-lift way to respond to a message without making it a whole thing. While a heart emoji works fine for most missives, a new feature is going to make it even easier to express yourself. If you’re really more of a glassy-eyed kind of texter, a drool-face responder, or an abstract symbol messenger, you’ll want to get acquainted with the new custom emoji reactions update on Instagram DM.

With the new update — that includes other features like custom chat themes, personalized stickers, vanishing text mode, and more — you can curate a batch of emojis so that you can respond quickly to friends in your DMs without scrolling through the entire library for the emojis that feel the most “you.” While the update is still rolling out gradually in the U.S., when it’s available to you, you’ll be able to long tap on a message in your DMs to reveal a bar of suggested emojis. If a long tap is currently only giving you the option to Copy, Report, or Save, you have not yet received the update.

How To Change Your Custom Emojis In Instagram DMs

If the long tap reveals emojis for you, you have the update — huzzah. Tap the plus sign on the right to open up your full emoji library and then tap Customize to start remixing the offerings. Simply tap an emoji in the suggested bar that you’d like to get rid of, and then tap an emoji from the full library to add it to your shortcuts list and the switch will be made.

Evolve With Your Emojis

As your go-to emojis of the moment might not always feel fresh and relevant for you, you can swap them out at any time. This is particularly helpful as new emojis are always being added to the library, and as they come, you might find even more profound ways to say what you mean, without using words.

For example, Emojipedia’s new emojis in iOS14.2 will include a toothbrush, which will be the perfect zinger for when someone says something dirty. There’s a chef’s kiss hand gesture for when something is just immaculate, and a smiley face that's crying softly for when you just can't explain how you feel.