Are Instagram Notes not showing in your direct messages?
As of June 2022, Instagram is testing out a new “Notes” feature.
The feature allows users to post disappearing content with quick notes.
Quick notes are like announcements that you can post to your “Close Friends” circle.
You can also share them with your followers that you follow back.
Similar to Instagram Stories, quick notes will disappear in 24 hours.
The feature was first discovered by Ahmed Ghanem on Twitter which displays the “Notes” feature above the direct messaging screen.
In this guide, you’ll learn why Instagram Notes are not showing, not working, or missing, and how to fix it.
Why are Instagram Notes not working?
Instagram Notes are not working because it’s not available in your location yet.
Instagram confirmed that they are testing the “Notes” feature with a limited number of users.
Hence, some people have the feature while others don’t.
If you have the feature, you can use it by going to the direct messages screen.
Once you’re there, tap on the plus button to add a new note.
You’ll then need to choose who you want to share the note with.
You can either share the note with your close friends list or with your followers that you follow back.
Similar to Instagram Stories, the note that you’ve shared will disappear in 24 hours.
If you don’t want to see other people’s notes, you can mute them like how you’d mute stories.
Many users are complaining that they are unable to access the feature.
Here’s a tweet by @aaronxscene, “My Instagram is updated and I still don’t have notes”.
Unfortunately, Instagram is not transparent about its new features—including notes.
Hence, they did not state the list of countries where the feature is available in.
Even if you’re living in a country where the feature is available in, you might not have it.
This is because only a selected number of people have access to notes.
The feature is still in the testing phase, so you need to wait until it’s rolled out globally.
How to fix Instagram notes not showing
To fix Instagram notes not showing, you need to update the app to the latest version or wait until the feature is rolled out to you.
To update the app, go to the App Store or Google Play Store, search for “Instagram”, and tap on “Update”.
If you’ve updated the app to the latest version but Instagram notes are still not showing, it means that it’s not available in your location yet.
If that’s the case, you need to wait until the feature is rolled out to you or your location.
The “Notes” feature is currently in the testing phase.
This means that Instagram has not released it to everyone yet.
Only a limited number of users have access to the feature.
In addition, it’s not certain that Instagram will release the feature globally.
If not many people use the feature in the testing phase, Instagram might revoke the feature entirely.
In fact, many users are complaining about the feature on Twitter.
Here’s what @mathiustwain tweeted, “How do I turn off these Instagram notes, a lot of unfunny people think they are funny”.
Here’s a tweet by @ogjjoseph that got over 200 likes, “Instagram wants to be twitter so bad, tf is that new notes update”.
And another one by @edbenhin, “Who asked for this Instagram update? Like what is the purpose of the notes”.
From all the complaints, it seems like Instagram is trying to replicate tweets on Twitter with notes.
Along with notes, Instagram is testing a new feature called “Candid”, which is similar to BeReal.
With Candid, you can share stories with others who share their own Candids.
Further reading
How to Recover Deleted Messages on Messenger
