News

Instagram DMs Just Got A New Location-Sharing Feature

The latest platform update also lets you add nicknames for yourself and your contacts in private chats.

Published

2 years ago

November 26, 2024

Nour Nasir

Instagram

On Monday, a new Instagram update dropped offering several new features for DMs. The platform now allows you to share your live location with contacts and gains the ability to add nicknames to chats, along with 300 new stickers to share in conversations.

The location-sharing feature is switched off by default and can be enabled for up to one hour, making it extremely useful for concerts or crowded events. Only people in your private (one-to-one or group) DMs can see location data, and they can’t forward the information to anyone outside of the chat.

Another new feature, Nicknames, allows you to add custom aliases for yourself and friends inside DMs. Instagram says the feature is ideal to “share an inside joke with a nickname, or simplify lengthy usernames so your friends are easier to recognize”.

Also Read: How To Find & Cancel Pending Instagram Requests

Nicknames only appear in DMs, and can’t be seen elsewhere on Instagram. Users can pick or swap nicknames and choose which friends have permission to change theirs. To create a new alias, simply tap on a chat name at the top of a conversation and select “Nicknames”.

Finally, Instagram has also added 17 new sticker packs containing 300+ individual stickers. The new additions can be added to DMs and favorites can be set for easy repeat use.

News

Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

Egypt’s telecom regulator says $57.6 billion moved through more than 57 million wallets in six months. And one operator handled 77% of the value.

Published

4 days ago

September 12, 2026

Nour Nasir

egypt's mobile wallets are booming but cash still has power

Egypt’s mobile wallets handled EGP 2.96 trillion ($57.6 billion) in transactions in the first half of 2026, according to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority – a 56% rise on the EGP 1.90 trillion ($36.9 billion) recorded a year earlier. Transactions grew faster still, up 62% to 2.22 billion, while registered wallets climbed 23% to 57.01 million.

On one reading, that is exactly what Egypt’s regulators have been pushing for: a payments system that runs through telecom-linked wallets rather than banknotes. But the same data shows how far cash still reaches into it. Cash withdrawals made up just 12% of the transactions taking money out of wallets, yet 75% of the value withdrawn or spent.

Money arrives mostly from bank accounts: transfers through InstaPay accounted for 78% of deposit transactions and 58% of the value deposited, while incoming remittances from abroad made up 3% of deposit transactions but 10% of their value. Once inside, it largely moves between wallets – wallet-to-wallet transfers accounted for 54% of all transactions and 67% of total value, with mobile and internet top-ups a distant second at 25% of volume. In effect, the wallet is serving as a transfer layer: the place money passes through between the bank account and the banknote.

That layer also runs predominantly through one operator. Vodafone Cash held 53% of registered wallets and 57% of active ones, but handled 69% of transactions and 77% of their value. Its nearest rival, e& money, held 23% of registered wallets but 14% of transaction value; Orange Cash 20% and 8%; WE Pay 4% of wallets. How many of the 57.01 million are active is not stated.

Also Read: Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Adoption is rather uneven in other respects. Men held 38 million wallets, or 67% of the total, against 19 million held by women. Users aged 26 to 45 accounted for half of all wallets, and Cairo alone had 10.6 million, or 19% of the national total, with Giza next at 6.5 million.

The NTRA says it is continuing to work with telecom operators on the regulatory framework for wallet services, part of a wider effort to expand electronic payments and financial inclusion. Its own figures show that effort succeeding on the way in. On the way out, three-quarters of the value still leaves as cash.