After reports teasing a launch date of June for its Twitter rival, Instagram has let us down as we venture into July. However, there may be hope on the horizon as the competitor was briefly listed on the Apple and Google app stores over the weekend.
Benzinga reports that the rival platform, called Threads, appeared on the Apple app store and Google Play store before promptly being taken down. Threads is the tentative name for Meta’s highly anticipated Twitter clone. The massive tech corporation seeks to fill in the social media vacuum that is being left behind as Twitter slowly dies a death of a thousand cuts. Reverse engineer and code sleuth Alessandro Paluzzi found that Threads (which was developed under the codename Barcelona) was briefly listed on Google and Apple’s respective app stores on July 1. The app listing was then pulled sometime later.
Meta did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the app store listings or when Threads may be available for download.
Self-proclaimed social media consultant Matt Navarra and Paluzzi also shared screenshots of the app listing’s promo images, which tout some of Threads features. Namely, Threads will allow you to access the Twitter-like feed without you having to create a separate account — you can log in with your pre-existing Instagram account. Similarly, the platform will let you follow any accounts you already follow on Instagram that also have a Threads account. Aside from that, it appears to be a pretty one-to-one copy of Twitter’s user experience.
Meta’s pursuit of Threads comes as users appear to flee from Twitter and its new owner Elon Musk. One of the platform’s primary rivals Bluesky, which was developed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, had to pause enrollment this weekend after experiencing record-high traffic due to Elon Musk placing a limit on the number of tweets users could view in a day.