The announcement was made via Instagram’s official Twitter account, revealing that it’s currently testing the new feature starting today. However, the platform will only provide access to web-based DMs to a “small percentage” of its users for now.

We’re currently testing Direct messaging on the web, so you can read and reply to your messages from wherever you are. pic.twitter.com/VJ06EpETxG — Instagram (@instagram) January 14, 2020 Just like its mobile counterpart, the web-based DM on Instagram will have a similar experience which allows users to initiate a chat via a person’s profile page, start chat groups, share photos, and so on. Once rolled out, this new feature will definitely be useful for businesses and individuals who are often on their PCs or laptops, which allows them to pull out their phones less often in order to reply or send DMs on Instagram. The actual roll-out date for Instagram’s web-based DM service to all of its users has not been confirmed at this time. It’s also worth noting that Facebook had previously announced plans last year to develop a cross-messaging function that allows communication between Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. (Source: Instagram via Twitter.)