Instagram Spotted Working on Feature to Let Users Reply to Stories With Voice Messages, Images

Instagram is reportedly working on a feature that will allow users to reply to stories with voice messages and images, according to details shared by a feature tracker. The image and video sharing social platform recently added support for liking stories, which would send users a notification instead of a new message in their inbox. While the company is yet to reveal any details about the feature that is currently in development, it recently introduced a new product tagging feature for users in the US, which was previously exclusive to business and creator accounts on the platform.

The Meta-owned social network is working on a new feature that may allow users to respond to stories with their voice or an image, as spotted by a popular app developer Alessandro Paluzzi over the weekend. A microphone icon and image icon were shown in a screenshot of the interface for responding to an Instagram story, which was possibly discovered by reverse engineering the app. The screenshot does not reveal whether the feature was spotted on the iOS or Android version of the app.

Responding using voice messages could be useful for users who want to quickly respond to a message without typing it out. This could shorten the process of tapping on a user's profile at the top of their story, then tapping on the Message button on their profile in order to send a voice message or an image after viewing a story.

Users can currently respond to stories with a one of eight ‘Quick Reactions' emoji, a text message, or a GIF reply. Paluzzi revealed on March 25 that Instagram was also working on the ability to like stories on the website, after recently releasing the feature on iOS and Android. However, it is worth noting that not all features in development, such as the ability to reply to stories with voice messages and images, will eventually be released. Instagram is yet to reveal any details of the feature spotted in development for the mobile version of the app.

Meanwhile, Instagram recently rolled out its product-tagging feature to all users in the US, allowing users to tag products in their posts on the service. The app previously limited the feature to users with creator or business accounts. Instagram is expected to roll out the feature to users in other regions over the next few months. Earlier this month, Instagram also rolled out auto-generated captions for videos shared by users, a feature also found on rival video sharing service TikTok.