It's not unusual for glitches to pop up from time to time in mobile apps, and Instagram seems to have its own bug as a result of a recent update. Many users have reported finding that some or all of their instant messages are "blacked out," appearing as a black box in the app.
Obviously, this makes it impossible to read the messages, a very frustrating development. If you're afflicted by this development, there's good news: It's very easy to fix all on your own.
How to fix blacked-out Instagram messages
Because this problem was caused by a recent update to the Instagram app, the permanent remedy is to update to the latest version of Instagram, as a newer version of the app will have addressed the glitch.
Generally, your phone should install updates as they become available, but you can force an update if it's available but hasn't been installed on your phone yet. Here is how to update an app on your iPhone or on your Android phone.
If there's no update, or the latest update hasn't solved your problem, there's also a very simple workaround that can eliminate the blacked out messages: Just turn on dark mode on your phone.
If you have an iPhone, start the Settings app and then tap Display & Brightness. Tap Dark, and then return to Instagram to read your messages.
On Android, the way to enable dark mode varies depending on which OS and handset you have, but for most phones you can start the Settings app and tap Display. In the Appearance section, turn on Dark theme by swiping the button to the right. You should now see the messages in Instagram.
