Meta just made your texting a little more fun with these new features

Instagram and Threads are spicing things up with fun new features that make sharing and chatting feel more personal. Here’s what you need to know.

Instagram just dropped a new feature for DMs, and it might be one of those small updates that, playfully, can change how we use the app every day. You can now doodle, drop stickers, or place emojis anywhere on your chat screen, which means your conversations no longer have to be limited to just text and reactions; they can now look like a mix between a message thread and a messy, creative whiteboard that’s entirely yours.

All you have to do is open a chat, tap on the sticker icon, hold down the sticker you want, and drag it wherever you like on the screen, and if you’re in the mood to draw instead, you can tap the plus icon, choose “Draw,” and start doodling right over your messages, which feels fun, spontaneous, and a little bit nostalgic, almost like scribbling notes on the last page of your notebook while talking to a friend.

Instagram’s recent updates have clearly been moving toward making the platform more expressive and less rigid, and this feature feels like a natural continuation of that. While most might see it as a minor change, it speaks to a larger trend of apps trying to humanise digital communication. There’s also something very “Instagram” about this update as it’s visual, immediate, and slightly chaotic in a way that mirrors how users already behave on the app. Not to mention, these are the very elements that the platform has always thrived upon. 

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Another feature that’s got everyone talking right now is “ghost posts” on Threads. Meta has rolled out this new option where posts disappear 24 hours after being uploaded, similar to Stories on Instagram or Facebook.

The idea is to let people share their thoughts more freely without worrying about them staying up forever. Replies to ghost posts go straight to your inbox, and no one else can see who’s liked or commented.

To use it, just tap the ghost icon when you’re creating a post. In your feed, these posts will show up as a light, dotted chat bubble so you can easily tell them apart from regular ones.

What are your thoughts on these new features? Tell us in the comments below!

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