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Instagram now lets you send voice messages

You can reportedly record a message as long as a minute.

Marrian Zhou Staff Reporter
Marrian Zhou is a Beijing-born Californian living in New York City. She joined CNET as a staff reporter upon graduation from Columbia Journalism School. When Marrian is not reporting, she is probably binge watching, playing saxophone or eating hot pot.
Marrian Zhou
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Tired of the same old, text-based DMs? Good news, then: Instagram now lets you send voice messages.

On Monday, the popular photo-sharing app quietly added a feature that lets you share short audio messages with friends. If you've ever used voice messaging on Facebook Messenger, this will feel familiar: Hold the microphone button down, record a short message and send as part of a chat.

It's a pretty standard implementation of the idea, but Instagram does add it's own twist: If you don't want to hold the microphone button, you can simply open your DMs and hold your phone to your ear -- an quiet beep will sound and whatever you say next will automatically be recorded. You'll still have to look down at your phone and tap on the send icon, however.

The new feature works on both iOS and Android devices, according to Tech Crunch, which says the messages can be up to a minute long.

Instagram didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.