How To Get To Message Request On Instagram

Ever since Facebook bought Instagram back in 2012, there have steadily been some changes over at the square-cropped photo app that has become a cornerstone of influencers everywhere. We've seen the app become super focused on e-commerce, more variety in the format of our pics, and changes with our private messages.

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One change that not everyone is crazy about is the implementation of the message request folder on Instagram. Anyone with a Facebook knows the frustration and even embarrassment of peeking in that folder for the first time in forever and seeing messages from two years ago. But if you can't find it, that's a whole other issue. So, where is the request folder on Instagram? Here's how to find it.

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Where is the request folder on Instagram?

If you can't find it, don't worry. Only a small notification pops up if you're already in your messages to show you if you have anything in that folder. When you open Instagram, tap on your messages. If you don't have any pending requests, you won't see anything, but if you do, you'll see "Requests" with the number of reqests on the top right of the screen.

When you tap this, you can see everyone trying to message you. It's like a waiting room for messages from people Instagram doesn't think you know. When you open the messages it looks a lot like Facebook's request section. You can choose to open the message, delete it, or block the person. If you open it, It's just like a regular message in your inbox and you and the other person can message back and forth without an issue.

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T-Pain had no idea this folder existed.

In April 2021, rapper and producer T-Pain let the world know he just found Instagram's message requests folder, years after it was introduced to the platform. In a video on his TikTok, you can see him scrolling through the messages that he didn't know he had. "I was today years old when I found out about the requests folder on Instagram that's full of celebs trying to reach me," the video reads.

"I've been accidentally straight up ignoring all these people for like two years," the video continues. He says he thought all your messages were just supposed to show up in a "normal" folder and didn't think he had to go looking for them.

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And there are some big names in T-Pain's DMs: Fergie, Viola Davis, Nickelodeon, and more. "I swear!! I'm just now seeing all these messages and mentions TODAY!!!! How do I super apologize? Press conference? Town hall meeting? I'm dumb," the caption reads.

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Thanks to this, T-Pain has been trending on Twitter and people are realizing why they never got the response they were hoping for. "T-Pain is just now figuring out about the Message Requests folder on IG," one person tweeted.

"Now I see why T-Pain never hit me back," tweeted the account for sports brand Overtime, whose unread message can be seen in the video.

TheShadeRoom shared the video to its Instagram, and rapper and actor Khleo Thomas left the comment we were all thinking: "Viola Davis!? You ignored the great Viola Davis!? Sir!"

Hopefully, T-Pain gets back to these messages ASAP so that we can expect some new music from him.