Facebook has added a slew of new features to its Messenger and Instagram apps to make chats on both platforms more interactive. The new features include Star Wars-themed chats, visual replies, ‘Seen’ states, and more to Instagram DMs.

Instagram Grabs New Seen State and Visual Replies Feature

One of the interesting features Facebook has added to Instagram is the “visual replies” feature. Now, simply tapping on the camera icon in your Instagram chat will bring up your, well, camera and then you can respond to a chat with a photo or video. The feature is currently available on iPhone and will roll out to Android soon.

Instagrammers will now be able to check if the other user has seen their DM, or not, using the new ‘Seen state’ feature. Now, after you send a message, you will be able to quickly check if the user has seen the message on not with a text snippet, like ‘Seen Just Now’ or ‘Seen 2 minutes ago,’ displaying in front of their chat.

Messenger Adds Email-Like Archive Chats Option

Moreover, Facebook has also added new email-like features to the Messenger. Now, you can simply swipe right to archive your chats. The company is also celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage month by the addition of new chat stickers to both the apps.

Among other features, Facebook has also introduced new Star Wars and Selena: The Series-based chat themes to the Messenger. Facebook says that the new themes help “you celebrate your favorite series.” And lastly, like WhatsApp, the company has also added an ability wherein you can go hands-free and record voice messages without holding the mic button.

Do are your thoughts on new messaging features? Do you think these chat features will make your messaging experience interesting? Let us know in the comments section below!