Threads | 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.

You can now attach 10,000 character blogs to your Threads posts

2025-09-03T17:00:03-04:00

Meta is adding a new feature to let you add a bunch of extra text to Threads posts - no screenshots of text blocks required. Starting today, Meta is rolling out a tool that lets you attach up to 10,000 characters of text to Threads posts, giving you a way to build upon the 500-character text limit already available when making a post. It's kind of a Threads-y take on X's Articles feature.

You can add a text attachment to a post by tapping on a new rounded rectangle icon with some lines on it. After tapping that, a word editor opens up where you can type away, and you can format your text with bold, italics, underlines, and strikethroughs.

…

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads now has DMs

2025-07-01T11:22:37-04:00

Threads has officially launched direct messaging for everyone. You can now privately message other users on the Meta-owned X rival, though Threads will only allow DMs between your followers or mutual followers on Instagram to start.

You can send a DM on Threads by selecting the envelope icon in the toolbar at the bottom of your screen in the app. From there, you'll be directed to your inbox, where you can tap the pencil button in the top-right corner to start composing a message.

Threads' DMs are currently available to users aged 18 and over on Android, iOS, and the web, but you can only have one-on-one conversations right now. Moving forw …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads now has a better word filter than Instagram

2025-06-27T08:39:00-04:00

Threads will let you temporarily block words, just like X.

Threads has taken another step towards decoupling from Instagram by introducing its own word blocking filters. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced on Thursday that the Hidden Words setting on Threads includes "newly added custom filters to block words, phrases, and emojis in batches, with optional time limits."

A previous version of Hidden Words was tied to Instagram, meaning you could only mute the same words and phrases across both platforms. This change enables users to tailor what they want to filter out of their feeds, search, profiles, and replies on both services. "Threads is about fostering an open exchange of perspectives, and to …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Threads is adding fediverse content to your social feeds

2025-06-17T11:43:38-04:00

The Threads team at Meta has spent the past year working on supporting the broader fediverse and social web, and is launching its biggest integrations yet: a new dedicated feed for fediverse posts, and a way to search for fediverse users inside of Threads.

Starting today, if you've turned on fediverse sharing in Threads, there will be a new section at the top of your Following feed that takes you to a list of posts from folks you follow on Mastodon, Flipboard, or wherever else you've connected your Threads account. It's very much a separate feed, which Meta software engineer Peter Cottle tells me is deliberate. "For everything from integrit …

Read the full story at The Verge.