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What Is Instagram Message Request and How to Use It?

Latest update on by Natalia Kudryavtseva .

Not everyone knows that Instagram is a social network in which you can also chat and video call. Although it is still the social network mainly created for sharing photography and video, many users, especially younger ones, also use it as a messaging app, just like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Do you write or receive Direct Messages on Instagram and you still don't know what pending requests are? Read on to discover what Instagram message requests are and what they're made for.





How to Send Instagram Messages to People Who Don’t Follow You

Instagram allows you to send direct messages to other users, whether they are your followers or not. Direct messages from users who follow you ( followers) are notified in the box marked with the origami airplane logo. Direct Messages (DM) from those who are not your followers, i.e. those contacts with whom you have never had any kind of communication, can be found in the message requests.

Similar to the Other Messages function of Facebook, Instagram's message requests also allow you to filter all incoming messages - especially useful for those who have a lot of followers and have a company account for example - so you can decide whether to reply or not.

Where to Find Message Requests on Instagram

To check if there are any pending message requests on your Instagram account you should follow these steps:

Open the app, click on the <bold>origami airplane icon or swipe to the left from home screen. On the top right under the Search bar, you will see how many message requests you have.



You can set the message requests notifications directly from the Instagram notification settings menu. However, it is always better to check the dedicated section periodically because sometimes the system, although set up for notifications, does not indicate when you get messages.

How to Accept or Reject a Message Request on Instagram

If you have received a message request, you can decide whether to reject it or accept it. When you open it, you can choose between Block, Delete or Accept options. The request may also be opened simply by holding down on it, for Android devices or by swapping on the chat for iPhone users.



Accepting the message request implies not only the possibility of communicating with the person who sent the request, but also allows the sender to know that the message has been read. However, the sender will not be able to access your profile if it is private and you didn’t accept him or her as a follower.

The Block button, instead, allows you to ban the sender of the message. They will no longer be able to contact you.

Requests for Missing Instagram Messages: How Is This Possible?

Received message requests that are not accepted or rejected for a period of more than 4 weeks are automatically deleted from the platform. Not only that but this "mysterious disappearance" can also be attributed to the cancellation of the request by the sender themselves or the fact that the message sender has deactivated their account.

Sent Requests

By sending messages, even to your followers, it is possible that the message with Request sent next to the contact in question will appear. Unlike what we’ve explained above, i.e. for sending messages to non-followers, this message appears because the recipient has a private profile. Simply access Access Data > Unanswered Requests that you have sent to remove all pending requests.

Photo: Shutterstock.com

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This document, titled « What Is Instagram Message Request and How to Use It? », is available under the Creative Commons license. Any copy, reuse, or modification of the content should be sufficiently credited to CCM (ccm.net).

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