Replying to stories with GIFs has been possible for a while
Instagram started as a photo-sharing platform but has lately been aggressively pushing Stories and Reels. It sometimes even messes with your muscle memory so that you accidentally open the Reels section and end up spending hours over there. But it looks like Instagram is showing some love to the good-old photo sharing side of things with a new option to reply with GIFs in comments.
You’ve surely seen the GIF button in the text box when you reply to someone’s Instagram Story. When you tap on it, you are presented with a few suggestions and a search bar to find the perfect GIF to throw some snark at your friends.
Something similar is coming to the comment section as well (via PiunikaWeb). A few users recently stumbled upon a GIF button in the comment box under posts, just like what you get in Stories. Instagram relies on Giphy’s expansive catalog of GIFs to let you find the exact clip you’re looking for.
This new GIF option in comments has shown up only for a few Instagram users on iOS. It appears to be a limited rollout so far since we don’t have it on our own iOS devices despite updating to the latest app version. How long it will take to reach some of the best Android phones is still up in the air.
Meanwhile, Instagram recently introduced Quiet Mode to let you take some time off social media. With the option enabled, the app will pause notifications and let anyone who DMs you know that you’re away. The app now also lets you mark certain types of content that you aren’t interested in so that you see fewer of those photos and videos in the Explore and Reels tabs.
Despite some of its challenges, Instagram remains a top choice for digital creators. If you’re just getting started with the platform, we have some handy tips that you can use to up your Stories game and post like an influencer.
