Lazy people of the world — your prayers have been answered. No, you can't get donuts delivered directly to your mouth and no, your hair has not learned to wash itself, but you will no longer have to reach into your pocket and go through all of the effort of pulling out a phone every time you want to send a DM. That's right, it looks like Instagram is finally stepping up to the plate with a long-awaited feature many of us have been asking for. Instagram is internally testing a new web version of the 'gram that will let you send Instagram Direct Messages without using the app, TechCrunch reports. This is big news.
If you tend to browse Instagram more on your laptop or you, like me, don't have the app because it makes you spend all of your spare time looking at vegan cakes that you'll never eat and yoga splits that you'll never do, then this could be totally transformational. I currently check my messages on Instagram a mass total of about once a year when I actually download the app. Luckily nobody is ever trying to talk to me — but for more popular, better people out there this would certainly a big change.
If this is rolled out publicly you would be able to send a direct message via a PC or Mac or pretty much anyway you like — so even technophobes can start slide into those sweet, sweet DMs. And, from what you can see so far from the testing phase, it looks like it would be just as slick as it is on the app. All you need is to click on the little messaging icon and off you go.
"In the current design, Direct on the web is available from a Direct arrow icon in the top right of the screen," TechCrunch reports. "The feature looks like it will use an Instagram.com/direct/…. URL structure. If the feature becomes popular, perhaps Facebook will break it out with its own Direct destination website similar to https://www.messenger.com, which launched in 2015. Instagram began testing a standalone Direct app last year, but it’s yet to be officially launched and doesn’t seem exceedingly popular."
So far, Instagram is being pretty tightlipped and has confirmed that they're not testing this publicly — but only time will tell. Considering the web version only started providing notification in 2016 and still doesn't let you update your Instagram story, it seems like the company does drag its heels on the web experience, but we can only hope messaging will arrive sooner rather than later.
Instagram is always trying new ways to improve the app — from adding options like voice messaging to Instagram stories — and people are always finding new ways to use the app. Whether they use it to make networking connections, to make money, or just to show off their cup of coffee in the morning, the app has become a way to communicating on a whole lot of different planes. And when you look at it that ways, allowing DMs on the web browser version is long overdue. So let's make direct messaging on the desktop version of Instagram a real thing, because finding your phone is hard.
