Facebook begins the Instagram DM and Messenger merge

In January last year, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook plans to integrate messaging services between Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It seems that the company is taking the first steps towards that by merging Instagram DMs and Messenger.

According to a report from The Verge, a ton of users got popup messages on Friday night describing the new integrated experience. The popup said: “There’s a new way to Message on Instagram” and mentioned fresh features, such as a redesigned interface, swipe to reply, and emoji reacts.

For now, it looks like Facebook has brought some of Messenger’s functionality into Instagram’s DMs, and there’s no way to turn this off. Plus, the ability to chat with your friends from Facebook isn’t available yet.

The update has rolled out in various languages across the world, in tongues such as English, Korean, and Spanish. However, at the time of writing, I haven’t received this update in India.

I’ve asked Instagram for more details on the rollout schedule, and I wll update the story if I hear back.