An emoji is worth a thousand words or sometimes saves time to spell the whole word when you want to send a simple message to your friends.
Such that, emoji reactions naturally found their way into our digital language and social media presence.
Do you know how to react to messages on the Instagram app with your favorite emojis?
Instagram now allows users to add Instagram emoji reactions to messages and stories or even use them in vanish mode!
Even if you don’t know how to react to messages, you are about to learn it and make your Instagram messaging more enjoyable.
Who introduced the first emoji set?
Surprisingly, emojis have been around ever since the late 90s.
SoftBank, known as J-Phone at the time, was the first one to introduce the world’s first known emoji list.
Yet, it was not until 2012 that people actively started to use emoji reactions.
When Facebook Messenger, which allows users to replace default emoji reactions, merged with the Instagram app, emoji reactions gained a new wave of popularity among Instagram users.
However, some of them are still not aware of these new features.
How to react to messages on Instagram?
People started to react to Instagram messages with emojis as it became an important factor in growing their followers (it is something you can do by using social media services like )or sometimes interact with their friends using their favorite emoji.
The reactions help them to go beyond the double-tap feature, which is double-tapping on a post to like it. You may need the likes a lot to stand out against the Instagram algorithm.
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Let’s find out the details for how to react to messages with emojis.
Update your Instagram app
Before you start, you need to check if you are using the latest version of Instagram.
To update Instagram, you can follow these easy steps:
- Open your Google play store or App Store,
- Type Instagram on the search bar,
- Check if there are any available updates.
- Once you are sure that your Instagram app is updated, check your app settings and confirm “Update messaging.”
You need to allow Update messaging for this feature to run properly.
Link your Instagram account and Facebook profile
To be able to use some new features, you need to connect your Instagram account to your Facebook account.
Here are the steps:
- Go to your Instagram app profile.
- Tap on the menu and select Settings.
- Tap “Accounts Centre” and then select “Set up Accounts Centre.”
- Add the Facebook account that you want to connect to.
React to Instagram message
Once you updated and linked your apps and confirmed “Update messaging,” log in to your account.
At the right top of your screen, you can find a message icon, which resembles the messenger icon.
Simply tap on the icon, and it will lead you to Instagram messages: chats, calls, and requests.
Your conversation with another Instagram user is called direct message, also known as Instagram DMs.
React to DMs
To react to a direct message:
- Tap on your Instagram DM to open it.
- Select the Instagram message you want to emoji.
- Double-tap on the Instagram message, which will lead to an emoji pop-up, or tap on the heart icon to put the default heart reaction on the message.
- If you would like to take back the emoji reaction, double-tap a message.
Compared to Facebook messenger, you don’t need to long-press on a message for reactions to appear.
Use different emojis on an Instagram message
To add different emojis than the heart emoji:
- Long press on a message.
- From the emojis that will appear, tap on your chosen emoji reaction.
- If you want to add a new emoji, tap on the plus icon and view Insta emojis.
- Simply tap on the emoji reaction you want to use.
Those are all for default emojis, but there is more.
How to like someone’s reaction on Instagram?
We know Instagram user doesn’t only post their perfect pictures on their Instagram profile but also create stories.
They are as important as any other post for an Instagram influencer to grow their Instagram profile.
Of course, it is important to keep a good level of interaction with their followers.
To obtain good interactions, you can send messages on Instagram or react to messages.
Some of your followers might send reactions to you, or you can send reactions to someone else.
Quick reaction on Instagram
It refers to reacting to someone’s story without sending direct messages.
Instagram offers eight different emojis for that:
- laughing,
- surprised,
- heart eyes,
- crying face,
- clapping hands,
- fire,
- party popper,
- hundred points.
You can also react to someone else’s quick reaction.
React to Instagram emojis
You can react to someone’s reaction to your story if you don’t want to send them direct messages on Instagram.
Here is how:
- Open your direct messages on Instagram.
- Choose the conversation where someone reacted to your story.
- Double-tap the story message, and the heart emoji will appear below the reaction.
- You can also tap and hold the story for other emojis to appear.
The steps you follow are almost the same as how you react to Instagram messages.
Undo emoji reactions
To remove an emoji reaction on Instagram:
Tap on the heart icon or the other emoji you added.
Then, tap “Tap to remove,” and you are done!
How to create custom emojis on Instagram?
There is a good number of Instagram emoji reactions, but you can also create your own custom emojis to react to Instagram messages.
Choose your custom emojis
Here are the steps to create your custom emoji:
- Tap and hold the messages on Instagram, then the plus icon on the right side.
- Tap customize, which will open all the emojis.
- Tap on emojis you want to customize and select an emoji to replace it.
You can re-apply the same steps for each emoji to add custom emojis.
If you customize your default heart emoji, the new reaction will become your default double-tap reaction.
How to react to messages on Instagram from other devices?
Unfortunately, you cannot react to Instagram messages with emojis on a PC or Mac as neither support this feature yet.
The only available one is heart reaction.
Double-clicking on the heart icon strikes a reaction.
Meanwhile, a left click and “Select to remove” removes the reaction.
Conclusion
Instagram messages with emojis are another way to express ourselves.
After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a reaction can be more than that.
There are three easy how-tos to react to Instagram messages with emojis.
- Update your Instagram app and open your account.
- Tap on the message icon to view your direct messages.
- Double-tap on the message, and you are done.