Instagram is shutting down its Threads messaging app

By Jesse Hollington November 17, 2021

It looks like Instagram’s stand-alone messaging app, called Threads, will soon be shutting down as part of an ongoing consolidation of messaging apps by Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook that owns Instagram).

Threads arrived in 2019 as a stand-alone alternative to direct messaging in the Instagram app. Basically, Threads was to Instagram what Facebook Messenger is to Facebook.

Instagram Threads messaging app. — Instagram

The stand-alone app never really caught on, however, partly because its initial release had a clunky interface and also limited folks to exchanging private messages only with their “Close Friends,” on Instagram.

A major 2020 update attempted to address some of these problems, but it was likely too little, too late. Although the app did offer a few unique features, most people preferred to just carry on their conversations in the actual Instagram app.

So, it’s probably not a big surprise that Meta is calling it quits on Threads. According to TechCrunch, by the end of December, the app will no longer be supported. Those still using Threads will start seeing in-app notices advising them to go back over to Instagram on November 23.

TechCrunch notes that Threads did see approximately 13.7 million installs globally from both the App Store and Google Play, but it’s unclear how many of those who downloaded Threads actually kept on using it. The ratings haven’t been kind either, with many complaints about the app’s design, missing features, and bugs.

Facebook also made its Messenger and Instagram apps interoperable not long after the release of Threads, which meant Instagram fans had a much better alternative. There was never really a clear reason for the continuing existence of Threads after that, especially as the company continued rolling more and more features into Instagram and leaving Threads behind.

Meta says that once support for Threads ends, users will be logged out automatically and the app will no longer be available on the App Store or Google Play. By that time, all Threads features will be available in the main Instagram app.

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Jesse Hollington

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Sunbird — the sketchy iMessage for Android app — just shut down

Sunbird messages app for Android

What was supposed to be an iMessage redeemer for Android smartphone users has quickly been consumed in a chaos of security and utter negligence. Merely days after the Nothing Chats app was removed from the Play Store, the tech at its foundation provided by Sunbird is also taking an unspecified leave, intensifying suspicions of something being seriously wrong.

Sunbird appeared on our radar late last year, promising blue bubbles for Android-to-iPhone messages. It also promised to bundle all messaging apps into a single cluster, somewhat like Beeper. Nothing adopted the Sunbird tech, bundled it into its own app for the Nothing Phone 2, and launched it with an ambitious video. “Sorry, Tim.” That’s the message Nothing CEO Carl Pei sent.

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Nothing’s iMessage for Android app is unbelievably bad

The Nothing Chats splash page in the app.

Earlier this week, Nothing did the unexpected and launched the "Nothing Chats" app for the Nothing Phone 2. The premise? Let anyone with a Nothing Phone 2 send and receive texts via iMessage. Nothing partnered with Sunbird to make Nothing Chats work, with Nothing essentially using Sunbird's own messaging tech to bring iMessage to Android.

It was a bold idea ... but one that was short-lived. That's because Nothing Chats is already dead (for the time being) due to a shocking number of security vulnerabilities that were discovered almost immediately. And by security vulnerabilities, we don't mean minor oversights that could have been easy to overlook. We're talking about major, game-breaking design flaws that massively compromise the personal information of anyone who used Nothing Chats.
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iMessage on an iPhone 15 Pro Max (left) and Nothing Chats on a Nothing Phone 2 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

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One of our favorite Android phones just got its own iMessage app

Nothing Chats app on a. phone.

Nothing is trying to bridge the great blue/green bubble divide for Android users of iMessage. This is not a personal crusade to shatter walls and open windows, as much as Nothing CEO Carl Pei would want you to believe that. Instead, Nothing is piggybacking on tech created by New York-based startup Sunbird.
Technically, the Sunbird app can be installed on any Android phone and it features a blue bubble for all iMessage text exchanges involving an Android phone. No more green bubble shame that could get you kicked out of groups for disrupting the harmony or even slim your dating chances. That’s how bad it is!
Nothing is adopting the Sunbird tech and bundling it as its very own app under the name Nothing Chats. But here’s the fun part. The app only works on the Nothing Phone 2 and not the Nothing Phone 1. And this life-altering boon will only be bestowed upon users in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., or the EU bloc.

The app is currently in the beta phase, which means some iMessage features will be broken or absent. Once the app is downloaded on your Nothing Phone 2, you can create a new account or sign up with your Apple ID to get going with blue bubble texts.
Just in case you’re concerned, all messages will be end-to-end encrypted, and the app doesn’t collect any personal information, such as the users’ geographic location or the texts exchanged. Right now, Sunbird and Nothing have not detailed the iMessage features and those that are broken.
We made iMessage for Android...
The Washington Post tried an early version of the Nothing Chats app and notes that the blue bubble system works just fine. Texts between an Android device and an iPhone are neatly arranged in a thread, and multimedia exchange is also allowed at full quality.
However, message editing is apparently not available, and a double-tap gesture for responding with a quick emoji doesn’t work either. We don’t know when these features will be added. Nothing's Sunbird-based app will expand to other territories soon.
Sunbird, however, offers a handful of other tricks aside from serving the iMessage blue bubble on Android. It also brings all your other messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Instagram, in one place. This isn’t an original formula, as Beeper offers the same convenience.