What is Instagram Direct?
Prior to talking about what the red heart feature of Instagram Direct is, we should probably discuss what Instagram Direct is itself. Basically, Instagram Direct allows you to send your photos or videos to select groups of people. Anything you send under this bracket will not be visible to the general public, or even the friends and followers that you haven't selected.
Now we've got that out of the way, let's look at the red heart feature. To summarise, when you see a red heart on one of your images, it means that someone has 'liked' it. The red heart appears as a symbol of that 'like'.
If you want to try this out for yourself, go to an image you like and double tap on your phone screen. Alternatively you can click 'like' on the desktop version. You'll notice that a red heart appears when you do this to signal that you've 'liked' the image.
Instagram Direct heart vs. Normal heart
When it comes to the little red hearts, there isn't any difference between the ones you see on Instagram Direct and your normal feed in terms of what they stand for. The only difference between them is that Instagram Direct images are only shared with users that you select, so the general population cannot see the image or 'like' it.
