Threads | The Verge

Threads has a VR app now

2026-08-11T15:10:14-04:00

Meta has launched a Threads app for Meta Quest VR headsets, the company announced on Tuesday. The launch follows Meta bringing the app to its Ray-Ban Display AR glasses last month and the recent news that the platform has crossed 500 million monthly active users.

It seems like a pretty full-featured app. Meta says that with the Threads VR app, you can do things like browse feeds, make posts, like and reply to posts, visit profiles, search, and watch videos - you know, Threads stuff.

"We designed the new Threads app for Meta Quest to make using VR more social than ever," Meta says. "Whether you want to keep up with conversations during a ga …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Half a billion people are using Threads every month

2026-06-15T19:45:31-04:00

Threads has surpassed 500 million monthly active users, Meta announced on Tuesday, hitting the milestone just shy of the platform's third birthday. Threads got off to a hot start in 2023, reaching 100 million users even faster than ChatGPT, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that he thinks Threads could hit 1 billion users.

Meta says that daily active users on Threads continue to "increase strongly across the globe," with "all" of it driven by communities, which allow users to see and make posts about different topics. The company is bringing them out of beta and adding features like a communities hub in the Threads menu and giving communitie …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Meta won’t let you block its AI account on Threads

2026-05-13T05:54:55-04:00

Meta announced on Tuesday that it's testing a Threads feature that lets users tag a Meta AI account to get answers to questions or context about a conversation on the platform. If you've spent any time looking at replies on X as of late, this new feature sounds a lot like Meta's take on people tagging xAI's Grok. But, as reported by Engadget, Threads users quickly discovered that you can't block the new Meta AI account, and they aren't happy about it.

Meta has invested heavily in AI as it works to catch up to rivals like OpenAI and Google, spending billions to hire AI talent. It launched a new AI model called Muse Spark in April, which it s …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads is finally getting DMs on the web

2026-05-05T14:30:42-04:00

Nearly a year after rolling out Threads direct messaging to everyone on mobile, Meta is finally bringing the feature to the web. Meta says it's "testing" DMs on the web now, but plans to make the feature "available to more people soon."

In your DM page on the web, you can see your inbox and message requests. Like on mobile, you can also choose to let anyone DM you or just people you follow. The company is also planning to test group chats on the web - group chats are currently available on mobile - and is also working on "more controls."

"While there's nothing better than a good conversation in the replies, we know you all like to sidebar …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads’ new ‘Dear Algo’ feature lets you tell the algorithm what you want to see

2026-02-10T17:54:43-05:00

Threads now lets users in the US adjust what is recommended in their feed by writing "Dear Algo" in a post and explaining what they're looking for. The feature is part of a bigger push across Meta's platforms to give users more control over the types of posts that are recommended to them.

Dear Algo was inspired by users making posts with the phrase to try to influence what they see before Meta made an official version. The feature has already been available in testing in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, and now that test is launching in the US. "We'll continue iterating based on community feedback before rolling it ou …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads overtakes X on mobile, but still lags far behind

2026-01-20T07:45:23-05:00

After launching almost three years ago, Meta's Threads is now reportedly attracting more daily mobile users than rival platform X. According to Similarweb data shared by TechCrunch, Threads has 141.5 million daily active iOS and Android global app users as of January 7th, compared to 125 million users for Elon Musk's mobile platform.

Similarweb reports that Threads actually overtook X sometime between late October and early November after a consistent period of growth, meaning this milestone wasn't suddenly achieved in reaction to recent Grok-related controversies. X still has more mobile users than Threads in the US, according to Similarwe …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads is giving you more control over your replies

2025-10-30T09:52:16-04:00

Threads will now give you more control over which post replies are made public. | Image: Meta

Threads is launching two new tools today designed to give users more control over replies on their posts so they can keep conversations civil, respectful, or on-topic.

Users will be presented with a list of pending replies that can be approved individually or en masse. | Image: Meta" data-portal-copyright="Image: Meta">

Reply approvals will require more legwork and attention, but it allows Threads users to monitor and individually select which replies will appear publicly on their posts before anyone else sees them. Users will be presented with a list of pending replies and can make them public using approve and ignore buttons for each one. To save time, if all the replies look okay, or if they all appear to be spam from bots, the entire pending list can be approved or ignored in one fell sw …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads is getting disappearing posts

2025-10-27T10:45:30-04:00

Threads is launching a new feature called the "ghost post:" a post it will automatically archive after 24 hours.

These posts will come in handy if you want to share a thought, but don't want to keep it on your profile. It's also a feature that users on X, formerly Twitter, have long requested, leading them to turn to third-party archiving tools.

Threads first started testing the ghost post in April as one of many new features it's been drip-feeding, including direct messages, 10,000-character posts, and group chats. It also added new communities where you can find posts related to specific topics.

Ghost posts will appear in a grayed-out chat bubble. | Image: Threads" data-portal-copyright="Image: Threads">

You can create a disappearing post by t …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads now has group chats

2025-10-15T10:40:24-04:00

The ability to add users to group chats via shared links is coming in a future update.

Meta is adding group chats to Threads, allowing users to message multiple friends in shared conversations instead of sending separate DMs. Threads users can create a group chat by starting a new message and adding up to 50 people who follow their Threads account. The group chat name can be customized to make it easier to identify by topic or participants, similar to how group messages function on Facebook Messenger.

Group chat support is currently rolling out globally, excluding the UK and Australia, with Meta spokesperson Alec Booker telling The Verge that the company is working to expand messaging to these regions "as quickly as possible. …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads adds communities to put your interests front and center

2025-10-02T13:31:08-04:00

Threads is testing a new feature called communities globally on its web platform and mobile apps, which will serve as dedicated spaces where you can find content or posts about your favorite topics. Starting today, you can explore different communities surrounding things like professional basketball, K-pop, books, TV shows, AI, and more.

You can join different communities on Threads and view feeds dedicated to each one, similar to the way different channels pop up on Reddit, or in X's communities. When you join a community on Threads, the platform will label your profile, displaying your membership to other users. Threads will also pin that …

Read the full story at The Verge.