Instagram might be cooking up a new feature: letting people send voice messages in response to stories.
This is according a report from Engadget citing developer Alessandro Paluzzi, who has shared a screenshot of the feature.
The report speculates that this could be a new way respond to ephemeral clips and images from friends. Paluzzi is known for reverse-engineering apps to find out about new features.
The company also recently announced private likes as a new way for users to interact with stories, the report says.
The Engadget report says that not every Instagram feature developed behind the scenes is released publicly, so it’s possible the voice response won’t make the cut.
When Instagram announced the private story likes, it said its motivation was to cut down on inbox clutter. Adding the option to send voice messages seems to be contradicting that goal, though the report notes that this would only make it easier to do something you can already do in the app.
PYMNTS wrote that Meta, the parent company for Instagram, has also recently debuted a parental supervision tool, which is a way for Instagram to address criticisms that it’s been harmful to younger users.
Read more: Meta Unveils Instagram Parental Supervision Tools
This is part of what Meta has dubbed its Family Center. That will also come with an education hub to help parents talk with teenagers about social media.
Eventually Meta says it’ll expand the center into a new platform to help parents keep more track of their kids on social media.
The tools will be available in the U.S. and will be rolled out later in the next few months.
The features will let parents start viewing how much time kids spend using Instagram and will let them impose limits. And parents will be able to get notified if their teen reports another user, and get updates on the accounts their children follow and are followed by.
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