Instagram has launched Private Story Likes—a feature that lets you react to an image or video that someone has posted as a story in private.
Here, we’ll guide you on how to send someone a private like on their Instagram Story so that you don’t have to worry about unnecessary DMs anymore.
Instagram Lets You Like Someone’s Story Without Sending a DM
Instagram has added a new like button to Instagram Stories that lets you like users’ stories privately.
Instagram’s Head, Adam Mosseri, announced this feature in a Twitter post on February 14th, 2022. In the video, Mosseri stated that Private Story Likes would help declutter Instagram DMs:
Previously, when you reacted to someone’s story while viewing it, your reaction showed up in that person’s DMs.
Alternatively, you could message them directly in their DMs with your reaction. Both these options cluttered the creator’s DMs and opened up more chats than necessary.
Now that you can like someone’s story without sending them a DM, they will receive a notification as they do when you react to their feed posts—in private, along with all of their other notifications. They will also know that you liked their story because your name will appear with a heart next to it on the viewer sheet.
How to Like Someone’s Instagram Story Without Sending a DM
Liking someone’s Instagram Story is a lot more straightforward than you think. You’ll see a new heart button instead of the DM icon when viewing a story. Here’s what you need to do:
Open the Instagram app on your phone. Open a user’s Story at the top of the screen. Tap the Heart icon at the bottom next to the Send Message field.
That’s it. The user will get a notification that you liked their Instagram Story and see your heart in the viewer sheet.
Instagram Is Streamlining Its Interface
Receiving DMs about people’s reactions to your Instagram Stories can be annoying, not to mention when they react to a thread of stories at one time.
The addition of Private Story Likes cleans up your Instagram DMs and sorts all reactions from your feed posts and stories in the same place—as notifications in the Activity section. It also streamlines the interface to make your Instagram appear more organized.
