The Twitter competitor from Meta, Instagram Threads, is expected to launch on July 6th. Both App Store and Google Play Store listings show a similar series of screenshots of the app, showing how you can log in with your Instagram handle, find the accounts you follow on Instagram on the new app, and post in an interface similar to Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or any of the other text-focused social apps.
Meta has also added a launch date teaser to the Instagram app. Typing “threads” into the search box (or a number of other keywords) causes a ticket icon to appear on the search bar. Tap it and a spinning ticket appears to show your Instagram username alongside a local launch time translated from 10AM ET on the 6th. The spinning ticket also includes a QR code that links to threads.net, seemingly the new social media platform’s web portal. Here you’ll see a countdown timer that’s also due to end on 10AM ET on the 6th.
Here is the official — and brief — description of the app, from the App Store:
Say more with Threads — Instagram’s text-based conversation app
Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.
News of the launch of Threads comes after a particularly messy few days at its main rival Twitter. Last week the Elon Musk-owned social media network blocked unregistered users from being able to see tweets, and implemented temporary rate limits for those who are logged in that could block you after reading hundreds or thousands of posts in a day. These changes lead to widespread issues over the weekend with users being unable to browse the service.
