The story of the unknown icon that appeared in the bottom right of my Instagram DMs
When I opened my DMs (inbox), something unfamiliar had appeared in the bottom right corner.
A small camera icon and a stack of photos.
I wondered what it was, so I touched it, and the camera almost activated, so I hurriedly backed out.
And I changed the settings immediately.
Apparently, this is called Instants.
When I looked it up, I found it was a new feature on Instagram that had just been added in May 2026.
It is a feature that lets you quickly send photos you just took to your friends. The photos you send disappear after the recipient views them, and they cannot be viewed after 24 hours.
It seems to be a feature with a concept similar to Snapchat or BeReal, where you send the current moment exactly as it is.
The reason I thought it was scary
This feature is, send immediately upon taking a photo.
There is no preview or confirmation screen. Once you press the shutter, it is sent as is.
Moreover, it seems that by default, the recipients are set to all friends you mutually follow (people you follow and who follow you back).
It gets sent without even a moment to confirm, "Who was I planning to send this to?"
On social media, there are reports of people saying, "I accidentally tapped it in the bathroom and sent a photo of myself in the bathroom." It is something to be careful about.
If you send it by mistake
If it is right after sending, you can cancel it by tapping "Undo" that appears on the screen for a moment.
Even if some time has passed, if you delete the relevant photo from your archive (the image icon in the top right, where the photos you sent are saved), you can prevent the recipient from viewing it if they haven't seen it yet.
However, if the recipient has already seen it, they have already seen it. I am not confident that I could press "Undo" immediately when I am panicking.
What I am doing now
I almost touched it, so I changed the settings right away.
Three lines at the top right of your profile → Content settings → Turn on "Hide Instant in inbox"
With this, the camera icon in the bottom right of the DM screen has disappeared. I'm relieved for now, as I no longer have to worry about tapping it by mistake.
You can always turn it back off if you decide you want to use it.
Well then.
It's just nice to know, isn't it?
If you enjoyed reading this to the end, I would be happy if you could tap the ♡.
Author: "Sate." | Digital Usage Supporter
I have spent 30 years at an IT company creating "easy-to-understand manuals."
Together, we will turn the "I don't understand IT" feeling you might have in your 50s into "Oh, I can actually do this!"