Instagram is giving you a way to tell people to stop DMing you.
In a blog post, the company announced it is rolling out Quiet Mode, a new toggle that will allow users to temporarily stop notifications from the app. The feature, which is rolling out now, will disable incoming notifications from the app and direct messages. If someone tries to DM you and you have Quiet Mode turned on, they’ll get an auto-reply from Instagram telling them that you have not been notified of the message since you have it turned on.
Instagram says that, while Quiet Mode is available for all users, it was specifically designed for teens who need to silence notifications for things like studying, school, and more. Users can also schedule times when Quiet Mode is automatically turned on.
Teens have told us that they sometimes want to take time for themselves and might be looking for more ways to focus at night, while studying and during school. You can easily customize your Quiet mode hours to fit your schedule and once the feature is turned off, we’ll show you a quick summary of notifications so you can catch up on what you missed.
Instagram says that Quiet Mode is available now in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The company plans to bring it to more countries “soon,” but did not specify when or which countries may be added first. The app has also added more ways to manage recommendations and more parental supervision tools.
Quiet Mode is much like the screen time features that Apple and Google have been building into iOS and Android for years now. While many users won’t need to use Instagram’s own version of notification management, it is good to see the company is offering the option for those who either don’t use or have access to Apple and Google’s offerings.