Instagram is working on a new app called Threads, which is meant to be a competitor to Twitter. The official launch date for Threads App is supposed to be July 6th.
However, today, the web version of Threads accidentally went live for a short time, allowing everyone to check it out beforehand. This gave us a sneak peek into what the full Threads app will offer when it officially launches on iOS tomorrow, and probably on Android too.
Meta, the company behind Instagram, quickly took down the web version of Threads after a few hours. During that time, The Verge managed to access Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s first thread (which is like a post or message on Threads). Many other well-known brands and creators, such as Netflix, Gary Vee, and Instagram, also had their threads visible on the web interface.
The current web interface for Threads is quite simple, only allowing users to view threads. If you want to take actions like liking, commenting, reposting, or sharing a thread, it will prompt you to download the mobile app. However, if you’re in a country where Threads is not officially supported yet, like some markets in the EU, you’ll only be able to view threads but not interact with them for now.
The app’s layout is somewhat similar to Twitter’s. You can see an account’s main posts in one section and the full history of replies in another section.
Before the official launch, Threads has been made available to a small group of testers. For instance, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, already has nearly 2,500 followers on the platform, while Mark Zuckerberg has fewer than 2,000 followers. So it seems that only a few thousand testers have been granted early access to Threads so far. Alessandro Paluzzi has discovered some of the brands and creators who were given this early access privilege.
