Instagram Tests Direct Messages on the Web

Instagram is still a mobile-focused product; it's been slow to add much functionality to Instagram.com, beyond allowing people to view photos and stories. But it's reportedly now testing web-based direct messaging.

As TechCrunch reports, Jane Manchun Wong—who regularly digs into apps to find upcoming changes—discovered that Instagram is playing around with messaging on the mobile web and the desktop.

It's not available to users at this point; Instagram employees are still testing it internally, TechCrunch says. A few hours after her initial tweets, meanwhile, Wong said Instagram had "remotely disabled access to Direct on Web prototype."

The move isn't too much of a surprise. In fact, you might question why it took this long. Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been available on the web since 2015, while Facebook chat started on the web before moving to mobile and then the standalone Facebook Messenger app. In 2017, there were rumors that Instagram was testing a standalone Direct messing app, but that never came to fruition.

Facebook is also thinking about merging its messaging platforms—Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram—to better compete with rivals.

Right now, the web version of Instagram does not support uploading photos or stories, and Instagram has said that it has "no plans to let users upload photos or stories from the desktop," The Verge reports.

:story: PC Magazine