The ongoing battle between Snapchat and Instagram has kicked up a notch, with reports Instagram is planning a new messaging app to be called ‘Threads’.
Threads will serve as a companion app to Instagram, according to The Verge‘s Casey Newton, and will promote “constant, intimate sharing between users and their closest friends”, similar to Snapchat.
It will work off the user’s ‘close friends’ list, currently available on Instagram.
Newton, who has seen screenshots of Instagram’s planned app, said it looks like Instagram’s current direct-messaging feature, however, messages appear in a central feed alongside your friends’ Stories and a green bubble indicates they’re active.
Automatic sharing is also set to feature on the new app (if it launches), which will allow users to opt-in to sharing real-time information about location, speed, and more with their close friends.
Threads is currently being tested internally by Instagram, according to Newton.
If Instagram is to go ahead with Threads, it mark yet another attempt by the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app to thwart Snapchat.
In 2016 it launched its now extremely popular ‘Instagram Stories’ feature, giving users the ability to share photos and videos that expire in 24 hours, very similar to Snapchat stories.
