Instagram shuts down Threads

Threads, Instagram’s standalone private messaging app, won’t be around much longer. By the end of December, the Threads app for iOS and Android will no longer be supported. The move will allow Instagram to focus on messaging within its main app, the Meta-owned company said on Wednesday, so people using Threads will get in-app notifications pointing them back to Instagram starting next week, according to TechCrunch, which earlier reported the news. 

Released in 2019, Threads was initially pushed as a “camera-first messaging app,” a la Snapchat, and was a similar idea to Facebook Messenger as it allowed users to send and receive Instagram DMs in a dedicated messaging interface outside of the main app. It had a collection of quirky features, including automatic statuses that the app could set for you based on what your phone was doing.

It was meant to be a way to keep up only with people you designated as “close friends” on Instagram. Last year, Instagram rolled out a heavy redesign to Threads to help make it more accessible, allowing users to message anyone instead of only close friends, so some of Threads features will be brought over to the main Instagram app. The company said it will share updates about those in the coming months. 

Meta is also in the process of consolidating its many messaging platforms. Messenger and Instagram now both support cross-platform messaging, and the company has said it intends to incorporate WhatsApp as well. Threads an app solely connected to Instagram may make less sense the more the lines blur between Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

But it’s also the case that not a heck of a lot of people were using Threads to begin with. The app had just over 200,000 users as of last year, which is a tiny percentage of Instagram’s billion-plus user base. Meta tried a number of things last year — it redesigned the app entirely and expanded its use cases from just the close friends list to all users but it seems they weren’t enough to save it.