Light app by default

Fake Instagram DM Generator

Write both sides of an Instagram DM, with a profile picture, reactions and Seen under your last message, and download it as a phone screenshot. Free, and nothing you type is uploaded.

Conversation

4 messages
Ctrl+Enter or ⌘+Enter adds the next message

How to Make a Fake Instagram DM

Step 1

Name the other person

The name in the chat header. Tap the avatar to give them a profile picture.

Step 2

Write both sides

Add messages, tap You or Them for each one. Yours take the gradient, theirs stay grey. Open one for a photo or a reaction.

Step 3

Light or dark

The page opens light. The moon switches to the dark app and keeps every message you typed.

Step 4

Download the PNG

A 1170 × 2532 phone screenshot, no watermark, saved straight out of your browser.

What the Instagram Screenshot Shows

Drawn

  • The iPhone app's header: back button, the other person's picture, name and Active now, call and video buttons
  • The profile card at the top of a new chat, with the big picture, name, handle and View profile
  • Sent bubbles in the purple-to-blue gradient, received ones in grey with the small picture beside them
  • Time and date labels between messages
  • Seen under a message you sent, once you set its receipt to Read
  • Emoji reactions on the corner of a bubble, and photos
  • The message box with the camera button

Not drawn yet

  • The blue verified badge
  • Story replies, shared posts and reels
  • Voice messages as a player (written out as text for now)
  • Vanish mode
  • Follower and post counts other than 0 on the profile card

The layout follows the current iPhone app: it was measured from real iPhone screenshots of Instagram's chat posted in August 2026, light and dark. The sent gradient is tied to the screen rather than to each bubble, as it is in the app, so your messages near the top of the screen are purple and the ones near the bottom are blue.

What People Make With It

A fake DM is mostly a joke or a scene: the message a creator wishes they had received, a slide in a storytime video, a couple of lines of dialogue in a comic or a fan fiction, a brand pitch written out so a client can see what an outreach message would look like before anyone sends one. Marketers use it the same way a wireframe gets used — a screenshot in a deck that stands in for a real conversation nobody wants to expose.

Storytime videos are a common one: a chat told one message at a time on TikTok, Reels or Shorts. A screenshot per beat works, and Pro can export the whole chat as a video instead, each message arriving after the typing dots, with pauses where you set them.

Please use fake screenshots responsibly — for stories, memes, mockups, and jokes. Don't impersonate real people to deceive, defraud, or harm anyone.

The Dark Version of This Page

This page opens in the light app, which is what Instagram looks like on a phone that has never been switched over. If the screenshot has to read as a message received at midnight, the fake Instagram DM dark mode generator starts black instead, with the gradient bubbles on the dark background and the grey Seen under them. It is the same builder, so you can start here and finish there without retyping anything.

The phone underneath is a separate choice as well. Switch it to Android and the same DM is drawn under the Android status bar and exported at Pixel size, 1236 × 2745.

More Fake Message Generators

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it show Seen under the last message?
Yes. Open the message you sent and set its receipt to Read; Seen appears under it, where Instagram puts it. It is one of the details people read first: a DM screenshot with no Seen looks unanswered, and one with Seen under a received message looks wrong to anyone who uses the app. If the story is that the message was ignored, keep your own message last and mark it Read.
Why are the sent bubbles purple?
Instagram fills your own bubbles with the gradient it uses everywhere else in the app — a purple-to-blue sweep that runs down the screen rather than being flat per bubble, so two of your messages in a row are two different shades. Received messages are plain grey on white. That gradient is the single strongest signal that a screenshot is Instagram and not any other chat app, so it is drawn rather than approximated with one flat purple.
Can I make an Instagram DM in dark mode?
Yes. The moon button switches this page to the dark app, and there is a page set up for it: the fake Instagram DM dark mode generator, linked below, starts black with the gradient bubbles already on the dark background. Both pages are the same generator, so a conversation typed on one can be finished on the other.
Can I add a profile picture?
Yes. Tap the avatar beside the contact name and pick a picture. It appears everywhere Instagram shows the other person: in the header, in the profile card at the top of the chat and beside their messages. Your own picture is not drawn, because Instagram does not put one on your messages either.
Can I add reactions or photos?
Yes. Open any message to give it emoji reactions, drawn as the small disc Instagram puts on the corner of a bubble, or to turn it into a photo. Put a date line above a message to split the chat into days.
What is not drawn yet?
The blue verified badge, story replies, shared posts and reels, vanish mode, and voice messages as a player (a voice message is written out as text for now). The profile card at the top of the chat always reads 0 followers · 0 posts; those counts cannot be changed yet. Each of these is left out rather than guessed until it has been measured against a real capture.
Can the other person see a fake Instagram message?
No. It is a picture made in your browser. Nothing is sent to Instagram, no Instagram account is involved, and the person whose name you type is never notified.
What size is the downloaded image?
It is 1170 × 2532 pixels on the iPhone screen, the native screenshot size of an iPhone 12, 13 and 14, exported as a PNG with no watermark. Choose the Android phone instead and it is 1236 × 2745, close to a Pixel screenshot. Either is large enough to crop into a Reel or a story without the text going soft. Pro adds a video of the chat, message by message with the typing dots, and larger exports as PNG, JPG or WebP.
Is the conversation uploaded anywhere?
Not unless you ask for it. The screenshot is drawn on a canvas inside your browser and the PNG is saved from there, so the handle and the messages never reach our servers. The one exception is Write with AI: the short description you type there is sent to our server to draft the conversation, and nothing else is. The only copy that survives closing the tab is the draft your own browser keeps on your own device.
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