Threads users will soon get one of the most requested features for the text-based social network: A web version. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has announced on the app that in the next few weeks, Threads is getting both a web version people can use to access the service on desktop, as well as a proper search function.
While it’s possible to view Threads posts on desktop at the moment, clicking on the reply, repost, like and send buttons merely brings up a QR code that links to the app. Similarly, Threads’ search function is currently limited. As 9to5Mac notes, it can only surface other accounts and can’t be used to look for particular posts.
Meta pushed Threads out the door at an opportune time, when X users were reeling from major changes to the platform formerly known as Twitter. It became available shortly after X restricted the number of posts users can see on the website/app due to “extreme levels of data scraping [and] system manipulation.” Non-paying users were the most affected and were initially limited to seeing 600 posts a day.
People flocked to Threads after it came out, and it easily reached 100 million users in under a week. However, Meta released Threads without a bunch of features people have come to expect from a social network like it. The company’s higher-ups promised that the Threads team was working on those features, and over the past couple of weeks, it released a chronological feed and built-in translations. Threads’ engagement has plummeted from that blockbuster first week, but the new features coming out could entice those early adopters to take a peek and become active users.