【Han Yi-seul-I (한이슬) Archives】

Instagram has a new messaging app that's all about "close friends." It's called Threads,Han Yi-seul-I (한이슬) Archives and it's launching now on iOS and Android.

As you might expect, the "camera-first messaging app," whose existence was first reported back in August, is... a lot like Snapchat. It opens on the camera and has an interface that will be mostly familiar to Snapchat users, though there are a few big differences.

First, the entire app is focused on your "close friends" list. Threads users can only exchange messages if they've both aded each other to their close friends list on Instagram. (If only one person has someone as a close friend, the message will instead be routed to their Instagram Direct inbox rather than the Threads app.)

Second, besides swapping selfies, the app also encourages users to share brief, emoji-driven status updates: a 📚 for when you're studying, a 😴 when you're napping, a 🎮 for gaming, etc. But if you're willing to give Instagram access to a ton of data, the app can automatically create a cute emoji status for you with a feature called "Auto Status."

With Auto Status, Threads pulls info from your phone, including your location, to automatically generate a status. As you might expect, this requires a rather extensive amount of permissions from your device.

"If you enable Auto Status, Threads will request your location, movement, battery level and network connection from your phone in order to determine what context to share," Instagram's head of policy Karina Newton writes in a blog post. "For example, Auto Status might use your precise location to show your friends that you’re at a cafe.”

Newton says users' exact locations will never be shared and that location data will not be stored or used for targeted advertising.

Still, the feature is likely to raise privacy concerns. Many Instagram users believe the app secretly listens to their conversations, despite executives' repeated attempts to debunk these claims. So a separate Facebook-made app that does require excessive app permissions might raise some eyebrows. Newton notes the feature is optional and manual status updates don't require location data.

Separately, it's also difficult to ignore the fact Threads represents yetanother attempt by Facebook to recreate Snapchat in some fashion. This time, it's not just copying a feature (a la Stories), but trying to mimic the entire experience with a dedicated app. Snapchat, which is in the midst of a fresh wave of user growth, has long positioned itself as an app for small groups of "real friends."

Whether or not Threads will actually gain traction with Instagram users is a different question. Both Instagram and Facebook have experimented with standalone, Snapchat-like apps over the last several years, and most have since shut down.

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