How to change theme of your Instagram chat

A latest feature on social media app Instagram lets you change the chat theme and accent colour whenever you want. Whether you are using Instagram on your iPhone or Android phone, here is a step by step guide to update your Instagram chat theme or accent colour.

As a social media application, Instagram has a huge number of following across the globe. The various useful features of the app enable people to connect and communicate with others. Permitting a public or a private account, Instagram supports sharing stories, pictures and a whole lot of things with the users’ followers.

Facebook has now merged Instagram’s direct messages (DMs) with Facebook Messenger. When you opt-in, you can send messages to your Facebook friends from your Instagram account.

To be able to use this new cross-platform messaging feature, you need to update your Instagram to the latest version. The chat customising feature that lets you change the theme or colours is also available only in this latest version. Before updating it, you must know that this update cannot be reversed. So go for the update once you have made up your mind and ready for the changes it will bring on your app.

Classic white and night mode are the most popularly used modes for the Instagram DMS. With the new Instagram feature, you can update or change the chat theme and choose the accent colour you prefer for your Instagram DMs.

Update your Instagram app to the latest version

Visit Google Play Store or iOS App Store as is the case with your phone’s OS and update your Instagram application to the latest version. When you open the app, you will find a banner informing about the new-cross platform messaging update. If you are able to see it, you can be sure that the feature is available to you.

Go to your ‘Profile’ tab and then go to ‘Settings’. You will see the hamburger menu on the top-right corner of the screen. Tap on it. Under ‘Settings’, tap on ‘Update Messaging’ option.

Choose the ‘Update’ option here.

This will update the messaging feature. Once the update is successfully done, go to the Instagram home screen and on top of the screen, you will now see a Messenger icon instead of the regular classic Instagram DM icon you saw earlier. This is a confirmation that the app has been updated to the latest version.

Steps to change the Instagram theme

Once the update is made, launch the Instagram app on your phone by tapping the Instagram icon on your home screen.

Open the DM section. You will find a list of Instagram themes listed. From the list, select the theme you want to open.

Tap on the information icon you will see at the top right corner of the screen.

In the pop down menu, choose settings and you will find the Instagram chat ‘Themes’ Icon.

Click on ‘Themes’ and select the theme you want to find in the background.

The theme you selected will now display in the background.

You can follow the same method to change the theme whenever you want.