Facebook (Meta) owned Social media application Instagram’s standalone messaging app that goes by the name Threads is shutting down, with support ending by the end of December 2021.
This information comes to us via TechCrunch, with the company providing an official confirmation to the publication after multiple reports doing rounds on social media about the closure.
The company is planning to alert the current users of the platform with an in-app notice from November 23, which will ask them to return to Instagram to message friends and colleagues.
Why is Instagram Shutting Down Threads?
This comes as the app tried and failed to go mainstream, with Instagram choosing to provide small updates and giving very little attention to the app instead of fixing the experience.
A new update did come earlier, with Instagram trying to make it easier for users to switch between their friends’ Stories, Cameras, and other parts of the experience, but it still did not work quite as well as required.
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Alesssandro Paluzzi first spotted this decision to close the app, after which the news has been written by other blogs. But Instagram did not confirm the same until recently.
The company has now told TechCrunch that its decision comes as key features of the platform, such as automatic captions and status is already available on Instagram, with the company also thinking that it is better to focus on one messaging service in the main app instead of having two apps.
What Else Do We Know About this Decision?
“We know that people care about connecting with their close friends, and we’ve seen this particularly over the past few years with the growth of messaging on Instagram. We’re now focusing our efforts on enhancing how you connect with close friends on the social media site, and deprecating the Threads app,” an Instagram spokesperson said to TechCrunch.
“We’re bringing the fun and unique features we had on Threads to the main Instagram app, and continuing to build ways people can better connect with their close friends on Instagram. We hope this makes it easier for people to have all these features and abilities in the main app,” they added.
Instagram adds that it will release multiple new messaging features on the main Instagram in the coming months, with users on iOS and Android set to receive notices starting November 23 alerting them about the end of Threads. The Help centre will also be explaining this rather sudden decision.
