Instagram is adding a direct message scheduling feature before everyone can schedule posts

Instagram is adding an option for scheduling . Social media expert Lindsay Gamble Instagram confirmed TechCrunch Scheduled direct messages are rolled out to all users.

When you write a message, just hold down the send button and you can select the date and time. Apparently messages can be scheduled up to 29 days in advance. Until all timed messages have been sent, you’ll see a banner that says something like “x scheduled messages.”

This will be useful for people who want to schedule birthday messages for a group of friends at once, or, for example, to remind someone to pick them up from the airport on a certain day. It will also be useful for people who tend to pay attention to correspondence at night and do not want everyone to know how late they woke up. This is definitely not something I do with emails.

It should be noted that Instagram is rolling out this direct message scheduling feature before all users can . Right now, this feature is limited to people who have it .

Meanwhile, Instagram is rolling out several limited-time end-of-year features to help you celebrate the holidays and your memories of 2024. For one thing, there’s a collage tool for Stories that have an end-of-year theme. Based on the images shared on Instagram, it looks like you can opt for a Happy New Year overlay.

There are many New Year-based Add Your Photos templates too, like one you can use to ask friends to share photos in the How 2024 Started/How 2024 Ended format. If you hit the Like button on your End of Year Stories, you’ll see a custom effect . There’s a New Year font and a countdown text effect for stories, reels, and feed posts too.

Festive holiday chat topics include New Year’s, one called “Chill,” and of course another inspired by Mariah Carey. Last but not least, if you use certain emojis related to celebrations or phrases like “Happy New Year” or “Hello 2025” in direct messages or notes before the end of the year, you’ll see a little Easter egg of sorts.