Instagram's foray into messaging is slowly expanding. What began as a simple messaging section for users to communicate without leaving the image-sharing app is now a quasi full-fledged messenger with support for GIFs, tight integration with Stories, video calling, disappearing media, and more. The latest addition that began rolling out yesterday is voice messages.

If you think about it, voice notes are one of the most unconventional features for a platform that relies on visuals in its essence — they're much more prevalent in messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger. But the lines between the two categories are getting blurrier with time, and this change is another manifestation of that.

To send a voice note on Instagram, go to your Direct inbox, open any conversation, and you should find a new microphone icon in the text entry box at the bottom. Tap it and hold while speaking, then release when you're done. The message will be sent instantly. If you want to dismiss the message, you can swipe to the right where a delete button resides. If you send something by mistake, you can tap and hold then choose to unsend it.

The process is similar to every voice note mechanism we've seen in other apps. Instagram didn't invent the wheel here, it just took what works for its sister apps, WhatsApp and Facebook, and implemented it.

WHAT'S NEW

Introducing Voice Messaging

In any message thread, tap and hold the microphone icon to start recording a voice message. Release your finger to send.