Instagram is adding some new features today, including support for sharing your live location over DM in “select countries” (which haven’t been named). It works for up to an hour at a time. You can also pin a location on the map, for example to coordinate arrival at a specific location.
Live location can only be shared privately in DMs, either 1:1 or in a group chat. This is of course off by default. Only those in the chat you’ve shared it with can see your live location, and they can’t forward your location to other chats. There will be an indicator at the top of the chat to make sure you don’t forget to share your live location, and you can stop sharing at any time, even before the time runs out.
There are also 17 new sticker packs and over 300 new stickers available to share in your DMs when words “just aren’t enough,” Instagram says. You can favorite a sticker from your chat so you can reuse stickers shared by people you talk to.
Finally, names in DM can be customized – you can add a nickname for yourself and friends. These aliases only appear in your DM chats, and won’t change your username anywhere else.
You can change your nickname at any time, and you can decide who can change your nickname during a chat. This is set to people you follow by default, but you can have it so you’re the only one with the power to change their nickname.
