The social media platform has updated its messaging system to give people the option of choosing a future date or time to send a message.

To schedule, users simply have to tap and hold the send icon when they've written out their message, which will then bring up the date and time.

Instagram clarified: "This feature is only supported for text-only messages.

"Messages that include media (e.g. photo, video, GIFs) can't be scheduled to send at another time."

They also confirmed that "only you can see your scheduled message until it's been sent to the chat at the time that you've chosen".

The maximum time a message can be scheduled appears to be 29 days ahead.

Before the message has been sent, users can view any they have scheduled by tapping the 'Scheduled message' icon at the bottom of their chat.

From there, you can long-press your message which will give you the option of deleting it or sending it right away.

It comes after a number of features have been added to flesh out Instagram's DMs, including the ability to edit direct messages, to draw on photos, and even share your live locations with friends in a similar way to Snapchat.