Tech Desk 
Aug 30, 2025
Globally famed short-video platform TikTok is reportedly enhancing user interactions in direct messages (DMs), allowing users to send voice notes and share up to nine images or videos in both one-to-one and group chats.
TikTok's new voice notes and video features for DMs
TikTok's new DM features give cues to the Chinese tech giant's ambition to do more than just entertainment. These new messaging tools position TikTok right next to other popular social media apps like Meta-owned Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
You can now send voice and video messages on TikTok
With the new voice note feature, users can record and send voice messages of up to 60 seconds. This shows that the ByteDance-owned firm is now more into exploring the areas that have mostly been dominated by WhatsApp, Instagram, Apple’s Messages, and similar rival messaging platforms that already support voice notes.
While the inclusion of voicenotes and video messages happen to be a groundbreaking uptick in DM efficiency, the noteworthy apect of the story is that these features will be released gradually over the next few weeks.
Users have been given two options to share photos or videos, either by capturing them directly or selecting from their camera roll. Other options are also there to edit content before sending.
The seemingly absurd property of these new TikTok features is that when messaging someone for the first time, you can only share existing TikTok content.
Although DMs are not offered to users under 16, TikTok is implementing additional protections for those aged 16 to 18, including automated systems to block inappropriate content. Users above the age of 18 can turn on or off these safety features in their app settings.
