Meta Starts Testing Direct Messages on Threads

Meta’s Threads app is about to get its own Direct Messages system. The highly requested feature is currently being tested with a subset of users, and the feature currently only supports one-to-one chats.

“We’re starting to test DMs on Threads, which has been a top request since we launched,” wrote head of Instagram Adam Mosseri on Threads. “Our mission is to foster an open exchange of perspectives, and we know how important messaging is to supporting that cause.”

Meta has been testing messaging capabilities on Threads since last year, with a subset of users seeing a button to send a direct message to the Instagram inbox of a Threads user. Using Threads currently requires an Instagram account, but asking Threads users to switch to Instagram for DMs isn’t exactly a seamless experience.

Following the launch of Threads in July 2023, Mosseri explained that the team was conflicted between integrating Instagram DMs into Threads or building a separate DM system for the microblogging app. “we’ll have a hard choice to make between (1) mirroring the Instagram inbox in Threads and dealing with notification routing weirdness, and (2) building a totally separate Threads inbox and dealing with the fact that you’ll have two redundant message threads with each of your friends with the same handles in two different apps,” Mosseri wrote at the time.

Well, it turns out that an app with over 300 million monthly active users probably deserves its own direct messages system. Even though Threads and Instagram accounts are currently linked, it’s clear that the two services have different purposes and user bases.