Instagram users are just discovering a secret emoji GAME hidden within the app - here's how you can play it

With over two billion daily active users, Instagram is without a doubt one of the most popular social media apps around.

If you use Instagram, you've probably got the basics of the app covered, but there are actually several secret features you may not be making full use of.

One of the most exciting hidden features is a secret emoji game, which several users have stumbled across in recent weeks. 

One baffled user who discovered the game this month took to X (Twitter), writing: 'Is this a thing I didn't know about or is the CIA finally trying to break me?'

Here's how you can play Instagram's secret emoji game. 

Finding Instagram's secret game is very straightforward. 

Open the Instagram app on your smartphone, and tap the paper aeroplane icon in the top right corner to open your direct messages (DM). 

Search for a friend's name in the search box, then open your DM with them. 

Tap on the text box at the bottom of the screen, and send your friend an emoji. 

Finally, tap on that emoji in the message thread, and the game will begin!

The game is a version of the classic Pong, with the emoji acting like the ball. 

Simply use your thumb to move the paddle and intercept the bouncing emoji before it shoots off the bottom of your screen. 

As you successfully hit each emoji, your score will wrack up. 

But be warned, the game gets progressively more difficult, with the emoji bouncing faster and faster. 

When the game inevitably comes to an end, you'll be told your final score before being promped to play again or go back to your DM.  

The game works with any emoji, whether it's a smiley face, a ball, or a cheeky aubergine. 

Some characters will even evolve throughout the game, with the caterpillar turning into a butterfly after a few levels.  

While the game isn't new, several amazed Instagram users have only just discovered it. 

Taking to X, one user said: 'IF YOU CLICK ON AN EMOJI IN INSTAGRAM CHATS IT MAKES IT A BRICK PONG GAME???'   

Another user said: 'Today I learned if you click on an emoji sent by itself in a dm chat on, you can play a game of pong with the emoji.'

And one joked: 'Clicked on the cry laughing emoji on Instagram and it brought me to a mini game where you play pong with it????? Is this a thing? Am I dying?'

They added: 'It works with every emoji? And keeps score??? Is this a thing I didn’t know about or is the CIA finally trying to break me.'