Send a message to someone on Instagram
You can send messages, photos and videos in chats to one or more people on Instagram.
Messages won’t appear in feed, search or your profile.
Send a message
- Tap
or
in the top right of Feed.
- Tap
in the top right.
- Select people you'd like to send a message to, then tap Chat.
- Type a message. You can also tap
to take and send a disappearing photo or video, or 
to select a photo or video from your library. - Tap Send or tap
to send your message with a special effect.
To message someone you follow, you can also go to their profile and tap Message.
If you send a message to someone who doesn’t follow you, you can only send them one message until they accept your request to chat. Note that this doesn’t apply if you use business messaging tools, or message someone using business messaging tools.
The first message you send to an account that doesn’t follow you:
- Can’t be edited or unsent after it’s sent.
- Can only include text and links.
Keep in mind, Instagram accounts you message may use third party apps or automated services to send messages in chats.
If you’re having trouble sending a message to someone on Instagram, try these troubleshooting steps to help solve the issue.
Use commands
Commands allow you to access controls in chats when writing a message.
To send a message using commands:
- Tap Message... at the bottom of the screen.
- From here you can:
- Enter / to find a list of action commands. For example, you may see the option to send a message without a notification, /silent.
- Enter @ to find a list of people to notify. For example, you may see a list of people in your chat to mention in a message, @[username].
- Select a command, then enter your message.
- Tap Send.
Keep in mind that mentions are only available in chats with 3 or more people.
Learn how to view, react and reply to messages you receive.
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