Instagram Direct now supports links with the latest update. If you use Instagram and you haven’t updated the app yet, it’s worth checking to see if the update is available or if you somehow missed it. With the latest version of Instagram’s revamped Direct messaging feature, website links can easily be added by copying and pasting the link into any thread conversation you wish. The links will also show up with a preview of the content that the link will lead to so that the recipient will see what they’re clicking on, and since this works both ways if someone sends you a link in Direct you’ll be able to see a preview as well.
While this is a great new feature add, it’s not the only change to Direct that Instagram has made with this particular app update. Now, Direct supports portrait and landscape photo and video uploads. From now on when you upload a landscape or portrait photo or video, cropping either won’t be required which means the app will take care of everything for you automatically. This should make sharing that much easier and overall make the app that much more enjoyable to use whenever you do share stuff, which is the point of Instagram in the first place – to share photos and videos with others.
One thing worth noting is that the landscape and portrait photo and video upload support is not live on Android yet as Instagram states that it is only available to iOS users. It does mention however that Android will be gaining support for this feature soon, there is just no time frame for the inclusion yet. All that said, support for links in Direct is live on both platforms which means if you use Instagram on Android, you can share as many links through Direct as you like right now. If you’ve never used Direct before, perhaps these new features will convince you to give it a shot, especially if you’re already using Instagram anyways. Instagram says it will continue to make improvements to Direct throughout the year so users should definitely expect some more changes and features to be added.