Year after year, the Instagram app is becoming more engaging for users. With so many new changes, it can be hard to keep track of the new features and updates on Instagram.
We are talking about the “flag” feature that confused some Instagram users. What does it mean when you flag someone on Instagram? Is flagging a post the same as flagging a message?
Flagging on Instagram, like many other online communities, means reporting inappropriate content. It is a common term across all social media.
However, a while back, Instagram had the feature to flag important chats to be easily accessible in the direct messages section. This is what they usually mean when people talk about flagging on Instagram. Unfortunately, this feature is no longer available on Instagram.
You may have many questions about the flagging feature on Instagram. We are here to answer all these questions and clear any confusion you may have.
What Was “Flagged” on Instagram DM?
Remember the feature where you’d star someone’s messages that you deemed significant? Flagging was just the next name for that same feature! There was a new icon for it, but the function of flagging or starring remained the same.
Instagram repeatedly showed the message to its users when they first introduced flags. The message clearly stated that flags would be replacing stars.
Unfortunately, Instagram has now wholly removed this feature for personal accounts. Business accounts, however, can organize their direct messages between primary and general tabs.
How Could I Flag a Chat on Instagram?
You could flag someone’s direct messages on Instagram following these steps:
- Open the Instagram app on your mobile device.
- Swipe left on the screen or tap on the DM Icon in the top right corner.
- Open the chat you wish to flag.
- Tap the flag icon in the top right corner.
After that, the specific chat you wanted to keep for future reference could be filtered using your Flagged messages.
What Did It Mean When You Flag Someone on Instagram?
If you marked someone’s messages in your Instagram DM as “flagged,” they became important messages. You could get more notifications from these chats.
So, if you wanted to refer to someone’s chat in the future, you could flag them and come back to find their chats easily.
Instead of wasting time searching, you could look for the flagged chats and find what you were looking for. Instagram developers thought ‘flagging’ was a better term for this feature.
That’s why we had ‘Flags’ instead of ‘Stars’ for some time.
How Could I Find Flagged Messages on Instagram?
Finding flagged messages on Instagram was as simple as flagging them. All you had to do was follow these steps:
- Open the Instagram app on your mobile device.
- Swipe left on the screen or tap the DM Icon in the top right corner.
- Tap on the filter icon on the right side of the search bar. A drop-down would appear.
- Tap on the “Flagged” option, and your inbox will show only your flagged messages.
What Did the Orange Flag on Instagram Mean?
Direct messages had a flag icon on the right once the chats had been marked as flagged. A little orange triangle appeared in the right corner of the conversation.
The chat was marked significant if you saw the orange flag on any of your Instagram chats. If the person messaged you in the future, you would receive an alert.
What Is the Difference between Flagging a Direct Message and Flagging a Post?
People often ask what it means when you flag someone on Instagram, and there are two possible answers (well, now there is only one).
The first meaning is deprecated, but it is the most common explanation when people speak about flagging on Instagram.
Flagging was the term used by Instagram for marking chats as crucial. If users wanted to keep track of a conversation for future reference or use, they could mark them as flagged.
An orange flag would appear on that chat, and it would notify the user whenever there’s an activity in that chat.
The second meaning, however, is a common interpretation of the word flag in many online communities. In this scenario, “flag” stands for reporting something on Instagram.
Online users use the term “flag” to report questionable social media activities. The same word is used by Instagram users when “flagging a post” as inappropriate.
There are no similarities between the two meanings discussed above.
Summary
We hope your confusion about what it means when you flag someone on Instagram is cleared.
This post explained the use of the flag feature for direct messages on Instagram and how it’s not the same as flagging or reporting someone for inappropriate posts.
Now, I hope all your questions about flagging on Instagram are answered. Unfortunately, the char flagging feature is no longer available on Instagram.
