Instagram has quietly rolled out the ability for users to schedule direct messages. The Meta-owned social network confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday that the new feature is rolling out to all users globally.
The option to schedule DMs will be especially useful for creators and brands that want to schedule outreach messages at optimal times. It will also be useful for regular users who want to reach their friends at a certain time due to different time zones. Plus, they can use the feature to send a reminder about something at a certain point in the future.
The new feature was first spotted by social media expert Lindsey Gamble.
You can schedule a DM by typing out a message, holding down the send button, and then selecting a date and time to send the message. Instagram lets you schedule a message up 29 days in advance, according to our testing. Once you schedule a message, you will see a banner notifying you that you have “1 scheduled message” every time you open the chat until the DM is delivered.
Instagram has been building out DMs and adding new capabilities for both creators and regular users over the past few weeks. It recently introduced the ability for users to share their locations with their friends via DMs, directly challenging services like Apple’s Find My and Snapchat’s Snap Map. It also started letting users customize names in DMs by adding nicknames for themselves or others.
For creators, Instagram recently added tools that will allow them to sort and filter their message requests. Creators can now sort through these messages by follower count, verified accounts, brands, creators, and other factors.
