Threads, Meta’s micro-blogging rival to Elon Musk’s X, has quickly become a popular social media platform months within its launch. The text-based app from Instagram is still in its infancy, with several key features yet to arrive. Since Threads went live in July, users have complained about the fact that the platform does not let them delete their profile without deleting their Instagram account altogether. Now, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has announced two new updates for the social media site, one of which adds the ability to delete Threads profile separately from Instagram.
In a Threads post, Mosseri said the platform was rolling out two new updates based on user feedback. The first of these is the much-requested ability to delete a Threads profile without having to delete the linked Instagram account. Since Threads profiles are linked to their respective Instagram accounts there was no real way to delete your presence on the platform without also deleting your Instagram until now. Users could, however, temporarily deactivate their Threads profile.
With the new update, you can delete your Threads profile without interfering with your account on Meta’s photo-sharing app. This can be done by heading to Settings > Account > Delete or Deactivate Profile. Here, you can select delete to completely remove your Threads account.
Threads is also rolling out a second update that hands users a little more control over who can view their Threads posts across Meta’s social platforms. Currently, posts on the app also show up on Instagram and Facebook feeds. This feature was recently introduced to drive more engagement from Meta’s more established platforms towards its newest one. Following user feedback over concerns of privacy (users did not have any control over where or to whom their Threads posts would be shown), the new update rolls out a way to opt out of being featured on platforms outside Threads. This can be accessed in Privacy section of the Settings menu.
Since its bombastic launch in July, Threads has received criticism for its lack of features that usually exist on text-based social media platforms. The app could not be accessed on the Web until recently when it rolled out a Web version to catch up to X (formerly Twitter) in August.
The app has also come under scrutiny over its excessive user data collection similar to other Meta apps. After its record-breaking launch on July 6 that made it the fastest to reach 100 million downloads, Threads struggled to retain users in the following weeks, with the app losing over a half of its users. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that the company was focussed on boosting user retention. “Obviously, if you have more than 100 million people sign up, ideally it would be awesome if all of them or even half of them stuck around. We’re not there yet,” he had said.
Last month, Threads also rolled out an edit button and a Voice Threads feature, that lets users edit a Thread for as many as times within five minutes of posting and allows them to post a recorded voice message as a Threads post, respectively.