Facebook is working on a standalone Instagram app for automatic status sharing

Facebook is working on a new app for Instagram users. Threads allows users to constantly share information and statuses about themselves with friends. This concerns photos and videos, but also, for example, their location and battery life.

According to sources from The Verge, the application is currently being tested internally at Facebook, although the company itself does not want to provide any information about it. It is an app that can be used with an Instagram account, and specifically together with ‘close friends’ that you can point to on that social network.

Threads is for constantly sharing automatic updates with friends. Such updates consist of location data so that friends always know where you are, although according to The Verge it would not be real time data. Users can also share information about their phone such as battery status. It is also possible to send messages yourself, such as photos or videos. The Stories that friends now show in Instagram would also be viewable in the app.

Facebook seems to want to compete with Snapchat with the app. Users of that social network are often in close contact with each other, with the so-called ‘Snap Streaks’ being a popular way to keep them in the app. Facebook often looks away from Snapchat functions. After the company failed to acquire parent company Snap, Facebook copied the disappearing photos function in the form of Instagram Stories.

It is not clear when Facebook will release the app, or in what form. This may first be done as a separate app that can be used for testing. Facebook previously released another standalone app that allowed Instagram users to send each other direct messages. However, users found it annoying to have to switch apps every time. That app, Direct, also appeared to be a direct clone of Snapchat.