What does @silent mean on Instagram?

THE NUMBER of messages that come through on chat apps can sometimes be overwhelming.

Whether it’s a family group you’re struggling to keep up with or a friend who updates a bit too often, it’s easy for the likes of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct to become quite demanding.

SOPA Images/LightRocket via GettNo one likes messaging overkill…[/caption]

And if you’re the one sending these messages, you may fear you’re being annoying even though you have something to say.

So how do you find a middle ground for communicating something not important right now but worth reading later, without being a nuisance?

Thankfully, it looks like Instagram is working on just the thing.

The Meta-owned app has been spotted testing a new feature that allows people to send so-called silent messages.

By silent, we mean messages that won’t cause a notification.

So you can send something that the receiver will see once they decide to dip into the app, not when you’ve alerted them.

It’s a small bit of relief but surely will be appreciated by busy family or friends who don’t want to hear their phone ping all the time.

How to send a silent message on Instagram

Silent messages have only been seen in testing on certain accounts so far and there’s no news yet on whether it’ll be fully launched.

You can see whether you have it already within the Instagram messaging area now.

It appears to only apply to groups on the platform too.

Some users have been posting about the new feature on Twitter

All you need to do is type @ and an option saying ‘Silent – Don’t notify anyone in the chat’ should show up if it’s available on your account already.

Don’t forget, there are other ways you can stop annoying friends from oversharing.

Check out how to mute their posts, so they won’t flood your feed ever again.

SOPA Images/LightRocket via GettThere’s no indication whether the feature will be rolled out to everyone[/caption]

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And, an urgent Android warning has gone out to millions of users after malicious apps were detected in the Samsung app store.