Instagram is building a companion messaging app called Threads that shares location, battery life, and speed with your close friends, report claims
- Threads is being developed as a counterpart to Instagram says The Verge
- The app will allow users to message photos and video as well as share location
- It may serve as a response to Snapchat, which boasts higher user engagement
- It’s unclear whether the company will bring the app to market
- Previous efforts by Instagram to build a standalone messenger were scrapped
Instagram is reportedly developing a new app called ‘Threads’ that is meant to encourage sharing with one’s close friends.
According to a report from The Verge’s Casey Newton, Threads is being designed as a companion app to Instagram and will allows users to automatically share location, speed, and battery life as well as video, text, and photos.
The Verge reports that the app is being test internally by Facebook.
Instagram is working on a messaging app to rival Snapchat that can share location, battery life, and more. Stock image
While Instagram already offers direct messaging in its app, The Verge suggests that the newest idea may be a concerted effort to help claim territory from rival photo and video messaging app, Snapchat.
Instagram, which boasts vastly more users than Snapchat, has had a tougher time making strides in users engagement. Snapchat tends to keep its patrons inside the app for longer, particularly its younger users.
Threads’ main features will seemingly mimic some of the most popular features currently found in Snapchat, including location and battery life sharing.
Both Instagram and its parent company, Facebook, have previously adopted popular features from Snapchat, including its ‘stories’ feature which allows users to post more ephemeral, time-based content.
According to screenshots provided to The Verge, Threads will automatically update users in the app’s ‘close friends’ category when they are ‘on the move’ using location services.
The updates aren’t yet in real-time according to sources in The Verge, so they won’t offer a step-by-step account, though they can be updated manually.
In its current iteration, Threads reportedly looks substantially similar to the existing Instagram feature with friends located in a central feed that also displays whether or not they’re active using a green dot.
While the app is currently under development, it’s unclear whether Instagram will ever release Threads or if it will eventually lose steam, similar to other direct messaging ventures by the company.
A similar messaging standalone which had been under development since 2017 was recently scrapped by the company after beta tests indicated users loathed the idea of switching between two apps to communicate.
In Threads’ favor, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has said that private messaging — including the company’s widely popular WhatsApp — appears to be the future.
