Instagram Threads: How to sign up for and use Meta’s new Twitter competitor

App is built to use existing logins, and signing up is straightforward

Threads, Instagram’s attempt to take over from Twitter, has finally arrived.

The app is now available in more than 100 countries – though there are some notable exceptions – and can be downloaded and started up relatively easily.

Here’s how to get started with the app, from downloading it to customising it to be exactly how you want it.

Download the app

Threads is now out for both iOS and Android, and downloading them should be straightforward. Its full names “Threads, an Instagram app” and it is readily available on both platform’s stores.

You can find the App Store listing for iPhone here, and the Play Store listing for Android phones here. You can of course also search for the word “Threads”, though other apps might appear.

There is some chance that clicking through to those listings might show that the app is not available. If so, that’s probably because it’s not available in your country; the app has not yet been launched in the EU, apparently because of data protection concerns related to the way that data will be passed between apps.

Meta has not yet announced when people in those countries will be able to get the app.

Sign in and set up

Meta has built Threads to integrate with Instagram, and users can sign in with their existing accounts from that service. Opening up the app should show a user’s existing Instagram account, alongside the option to choose a new one, and clicking that begins the process of getting started.

From there, users can customise their profile for Threads, choosing a name and adding a bio, or importing it from Instagram. The app will then ask about privacy settings and ask whether you want to follow accounts from Instagram, before opening up and getting started.

Users might want to head into the settings to add any extra tweaks, such as blocking specific people or certain words.

Other than that, the design is relatively straightforward – and should be very familiar to people who have used Instagram and Twitter already, since it is in essence a combination of the two. Users can make new posts by clicking in the bar at the bottom, or interact with existing ones by using the buttons underneath a post.