Instagram's New Feature Is Amazing

If Instagram Stories often renders you speechless, fret not — you no longer need to find the right words to reply to a story: Now, you can reply to an Instagram story with a picture! Because sometimes, words are not enough — and they do say that a picture says a thousand words! If you're always responding to your friend's stories with emojis because you just can't put to words your reaction, you're going to want to take advantage of this new feature. Instead of scrolling through emojis to find the perfect expression, tap the camera button and make things extra personal by using your own face.

This update is just another feature meant to make the Instagram experience even more interactive and personalized. You can now have an entire conversation with your friends and followers without ever typing a word. So if you like to use Instagram as a place to practice your creativity, this update provides a great opportunity for you to creatively enhance your interactions. And, best of all, the reply images expire after they've been watched, so you can feel free to be as silly and as casual as you want. This type of content won't stick around to haunt you.

Here's how to use the new tool that's featured in your Instagram update today:

Check For An Update

As usual, head to your app store and check for an Instagram update. You'll need the latest version to utilize this new feature. Once you're up-to-date, you should be good to go. If you're having any troubles here, you might want to try closing out of your apps or restarting your phone.

Head To Stories

Start watching! Once you find a story that you're compelled to react to, simply tap the camera button while you're watching it. You might want to try your first media reply with a friend while you figure it all out.

Take A Pic

Capture a photo and update it with as many creative tools as you please. Decorate it, add text, emojis, doodles, what have you. Once you hit "send" you can continue watching the rest of the stories in your feed. Replying to a story won't take you out of the stories feed or derail you in any way, you can pick up exactly where you left off before you made the comment.

Wait For Delivery

The recipient will find the story in their direct inbox, just the same as they would with any reply comment. The message will be highlighted in blue to signify that it's a media reply, and will completely disappear once the recipient has viewed it. If you want the recipient to be able to keep the image, you'll have to send them a direct message outside Instagram — as the whole point of these DM messages is that they're fleeting.