How many of you have used Instagram as a teenager? Those who have will know the difference between using this platform on a personal smartphone and on the smartphone of your parents. Back then, all of us would keep our inboxes clear so that our parents couldn’t keep track of what we were talking about. However, all that changed as soon as we got our own personal smartphones. There was no need to hide anything anymore, which led to hundreds and hundreds of messages being deposited on our social handles, be it Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram.
If you open a chat with an old-school friend today, you’ll probably be shocked to learn how that conversation has over 10,000 messages. It is to enable users to navigate through their past messages easily that Instagram has recently launched a search in conversation feature for its DMs section.
In this blog, we’re going to learn in-depth about this fascinating new feature on Instagram and figure out how it works for both parties. Are you ready to dive deep? Then let’s get started!
The Search in Conversation feature on Instagram: What is it all about?
There was a time when conversations were mostly about how the other person was doing and how things were at their end. However, nowadays, all kinds of things are shared over conversations, be it pictures, GIFs, memes, videos, voice notes, and whatnot.
Many of us also share important documents like receipts, agreements, doctor prescriptions, and licenses on messages solely to keep track of them. Whenever you’re in a hurry and need to access one such message, the search in conversation will simplify the process for you.
This feature is designed to help Instagrammers navigate through older messages easily by being able to retain an old message by merely searching for a term or phrase they can remember from it.
Have you used the search in conversation feature on Instagram yet? Well, you needn’t worry. Below, we’ve attached a simple step-by-step guide to show you how it’s done. Take a look!
Using the Search in Conversation feature on Instagram: Here’s how it’s done
Step 1: Navigate the Instagram mobile app icon on your smartphone’s app menu grid. Upon finding it, give it a tap to launch the app.
Step 2: You’ll find yourself on the Home tab first, with your newsfeed displayed on the screen. To go to your DMs section from here, you have two choices.
You can directly swipe left on the middle of the screen to drag open the DMs section.
OR
You can navigate the floating message icon at the top-right corner of your screen, right next to the + icon of the create button. Tap on the floating message icon here to launch the DMs section.
Step 3: Once you’re in your DMs, you’ll find a search bar right at the top of the screen. However, this isn’t the search in conversation feature we’re talking about.
It’s a search bar to help you look up a conversation that might’ve gone down the page due to the chronological order.
Here, you can either browse through your conversation list manually or enter the username of the person whose DMs you want to open in the search bar.
(The latter can fetch you quicker results, especially when you’re looking for an older conversation.)
Step 4: Once you find that particular conversation, you need to tap on it to open it in full view.
Step 5: What can you see on the top of the next screen? A thumbnail of the Instagram user you were talking to, next to their full name and username.
On the right corner, you’ll also see two icons: one of a telephone receiver (which is for voice calls) and the other of a cam recorder (which is for video calls).
Tap on their username here, and you’ll be taken to yet another tab.
Step 6: This tab is labeled Details, with several categories arranged one after the other, such as Chat settings, Notifications, More actions, Members, and more.
In the third category – More actions – you’ll find three options, the middle one of which says:
Search in conversation.
Step 7: As soon as you tap on this option, a search bar will appear on the top of the screen, with a Cancel option provided towards the right side.
Enter any term or phrase that you remember from the message or chat you need to look up, and hit search on your smartphone’s keyboard.
Step 8: Upon doing that, you’ll notice how any message between both parties that contain that particular term or phrase will be displayed in reverse chronological order on your screen (from latest to oldest).
The searched term/phrase will be highlighted everywhere for your ease. Furthermore, you’ll also find the dates mentioned next to each message. Isn’t that super convenient?
Does Instagram Notify When You Search in Conversation?
Now that we’ve learned everything we needed to know about the search in conversation feature let’s bring our focus back to the question at hand: when you use this feature, will the other person be notified about it?
As you already know, every conversation takes place between at least two (or more) parties. The same is true for online conversations as well. Now, when you need to go back to an old conversation and look for any particular message, the search in conversation comes in handy.
But what if the other person in this conversation is no longer on talking terms with you? You’d definitely not want them to know you’re snooping around older messages, right? So, you want to make sure whether Instagram sends them a notification about this activity, and you’re lucky because the answer is: NO.
The DMs on Instagram are indeed the property of both parties. However, if any party decides to take any action on those DMs, it’s their personal matter and not something the other party needs to be concerned with. The Instagram Team understands this well and will, therefore, send no further notification about it to the other party.
The same thing will happen if the tables are turned; if the person decides to search for something in the conversation they had with you, you’ll receive no notification about it either.
Can third-party tools help you with it?
Whenever we feel stuck on any particular action on a social media platform, it’s natural to wonder if it is possible with the help of a third-party tool. There are many such tools designed for Instagram, with some even partnering with the website for wider utilization.
But if you’re wondering if a third-party tool for Instagram can notify you when any of your conversations have been searched, we’re sorry to disappoint you, but no such tool has been launched as of now. This might also be because the search in conversation feature itself is relatively new.
Perhaps such a tool might enter the market later on; when it does, we’ll be sure to let you know about it.
The bottom line
With this, we’ve reached the bottom of our blog. Let’s recapitulate all that we’ve learned so far. We began with learning about search in conversation, a recent feature introduced on Instagram. We learned the utility of this function and went through the steps to understand how it is used.
Lastly, we discussed how there is no provision for sending notifications for using the search in conversation feature on Instagram. Is there anything else you’d like to know about on Instagram? Let us know in comments and we’ll be back with the answer soon.
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