A couple of years ago, Instagram launched a standalone app for messaging called Direct. Instagram already has a direct messaging feature built into its app, but decided that apparently the feature needed a standalone version. However, it turns out that it wasn’t the best idea and the company killed it off earlier this year.
Apparently, that’s not the end of Instagram’s messaging ambitions. According to a report from The Verge, it seems that Instagram is working on a new standalone messaging app called “Threads”. This will be a more enhanced version of Direct where users will be able to share more things with each other, including their location, travel speed, and even battery life.
According to The Verge, this is apparently Instagram’s way of trying to compete with Snapchat and get its users to spend more time inside its app. As it stands, the average Snapchat user spends more time using Snapchat compared to the average Instagram user, and it seems that Instagram is hoping that by making a messaging app designed to be used amongst close friends could change that.
That being said, Instagram has never really been known to be a messaging app. Its main focus is on sharing photos, so we’re not sure if users could ever see it as anything else. The company has declined to comment on the report, but the app is reportedly currently being tested internally at Facebook, but whether it will be launched remains to be seen.
Filed in . Read more about Apps and Instagram. Source: theverge