Facebook adds new audio and inbox features to Messenger and Instagram

Facebook is introducing several new features to its suite of messaging apps. Looking at the list, one of the more handy new ones is the addition of inbox seen states within Instagram. Simply by looking at your inbox, you’ll know if the person you recently messaged has seen your DM, making it easier to find out if your friend or online crush is ghosting you. Good times. 

Another useful inbox feature is coming to Messenger. Facebook is adding a swipe to archive gesture to make hiding old chats easier. At the same time, the company has made it less cumbersome to revisit those same conversations. There’s no need to search for them anymore. Instead, you’ll find them through a menu item you can access by tapping on your profile photo.

Since Clubhouse came on the scene, Facebook has been all about adding audio-related functionality to its apps, and that continues today. The next time you send a voice memo to a friend over Messenger, you won’t have to hold the record button. Instead, all you need to do is tap the mic icon. Facebook says this feature is also coming to Instagram soon.

In the meantime, Instagram users on iOS (and soon Android) can reply to photos and videos with their own images and clips. When we say reply in this context, we mean when you pull a specific message to the right to tell your friend you’re responding to that specific part of the conversation.

l find new camera stickers celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Lastly, Facebook has added two new chat themes in Messenger and Instagram. One is for all the Star Wars fans out there, while the other is tied to the second season of Netflix’s Selena Quintanilla biopic. Both feature light and dark themes, and you switch over to them by digging into your chat settings.