Instagram’s Threads social network is finally available on the web—for some people, at least.
Threads is the company’s rival to X, formerly known as Twitter. When Instagram launched Threads, it chose to prioritize launching fast over shipping as many of Twitter’s features as it could. This decision resulted in a barebones app that lacked basic features such as direct messages, the ability to see posts from only people you follow, search, or the ability to log in from a mobile or desktop browser.
Some of these missing features were added in subsequent updates, but the web app was missing until now. The ability to log in from a browser is a pretty big requirement for any text-based social network. You don’t always want to be typing and posting from your phone, and, quite often, don’t want to install yet another app that sucks you into a black hole of endless scrolling.
How to access Threads on the web
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Instagram is slowly rolling out the ability to access Threads from a desktop or a mobile browser. You can head over to threads.net and see if you find a login page to check if the web version is available for you. If you only see a screen that asks you to download the app, then you’ll have to wait a while longer. If you see a login page, however, then you’re in luck.
Even if this isn’t available to you yet, you can still check out Threads profiles on the web by using direct links to profiles, such as this one. However, until you see the login page and are able to sign in to Threads on the web, you won’t be able to interact with these profiles in any meaningful way.
After this launch, search is probably the only major missing feature in Threads. The app has an annoying habit of scrolling to the top of your feed the moment you open the app. When you see an interesting post when you open the app, there’s a good chance that it disappears into the void, never to be seen again. A simple search feature could fix this problem and allow you to quickly find interesting posts, and it’s expected to be made available in the near future.
If you’ve tried Threads and decided that it’s not for you, then you can easily delete your Threads account without losing your Instagram profile.
[TechCrunch]