Threads updates to add 7 features and subtract some bugs: Is it any more interesting? | Digit

Threads on iOS has got a new update and although the App Store changelog is a generic line about bug fixes, there are some new features on the app. Let’s have a look and see if the app experience has improved and if it could retain users.

New Threads features

1. Translations

Using the Instagram translation engine, Threads will show its users the English translations for foreign languages. You just have to tap on the translation icon in the bottom right corner and it will do the trick in a jiff using AI.

2. Follows tab on activity feed

The activity feed is the section which shows the people who followed you, who accepted your follow request, and reactions to your posts. It appears with the Heart icon on the bottom menu. Now in this section, you also have a Follows tab that shows you just the list of people who you follow and who followed you.

Also Read: Threads is different from Twitter and that is both a good and bad thing

3. Subscribe to unfollowed users

This probably gives you their post updates even though you have unfollowed them.

Some other features like following + on thread replies page, tappable reposter label, and the ability to open the IG followers list aren’t accessible on our end at the moment. As Instagram software engineer Cameron Roth says, some of these features may take some time before appearing for all users. He says these are server-side changes that can “take a while to fully release”. 

However, it is not just about new features. Rather in this update, Threads for iOS gets fixes for some crashes, binary size cuts, and bugs. Notably, the loading and scrolling speeds have also been improved. 

Threads, when it launched, was sort of an experimental project within Meta and apparently had only 12 engineers. However, the team seems to have failed to estimate the sudden influx of users from Instagram and the expectations that come with it. Of late there have been reports of deteriorating Threads usage and the new update seems to be a way to show the company is working to improve things. Let’s see if it changes enough things to attract new users as well as users who left.

Also Read: Threads isn’t threading enough and here is why we think it is so

For now, the changes are very minor. They may have subtle improvements to the current users’ experience but they are not going to lure people, both new and who stopped using it after the initial fad. I hope Meta spruces up its ranking algorithm and also adds features that people have been asking for. Then, maybe then, we feel it stands a chance to be the next big microblogging website.