Almost any emoji may now be used as a reply in Twitter DMs, as per a newly released functionality. In the past, users’ emoji responses were restricted to the most recent direct message. With this update, Twitter will finally catch up to other messaging services, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, which support emoji reactions.

Elon Musk made the news through Twitter, saying that the change will be included in the upcoming software update. He also shared that the beta version of Twitter’s encrypted direct messages (DMs) will be available this coming Wednesday.

Direct Message Emoji Reactions Are Now Available On Twitter

Musk has long advocated for full encryption of direct messages on Twitter. When we talk about the purpose of DMs, he said in November of last year that we want them to “superset Signal.” When it comes to meeting deadlines, though, Musk has a poor track record.

He said on Twitter in March that encrypted direct messages (DMs) would be available by the end of the month; but, as of this writing in May, this feature has yet to be released.

Whether or whether encrypted direct messages are decrypted on Wednesday as scheduled is still up in the air. Musk did not specify whether there would be any kind of signal for users to know if their conversations were secured by end-to-end encryption.

Twitter has been criticized for its lack of privacy and security safeguards, so this news is a positive development.