Threads has reached 500 million monthly active users nearly three years after launching as Meta’s rival to Twitter, now known as X.
The company announced the milestone on Tuesday alongside several new features, including a tool called Your Algo that gives users more control over what appears in their feed.
The new Your Algo feature builds on Threads’ Dear Algo tool, which launched in February. Dear Algo, let users tell Threads what they want to see more or less of by posting publicly, such as asking the platform to show more posts about podcasts.
Your Algo takes a more private approach. It allows users to control what they see in their feed without making a public post.
Users can tell Threads they want to see more or less of certain topics and choose whether the request lasts for one, three or seven days. Only the user can see these requests. Your Algo is rolling out today in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
By giving users temporary control over their algorithm, Threads is adding a feature that is not available on X or many rival platforms.
The feature could help users shape their feed without permanently changing their interests or publicly asking the algorithm for different content.
Threads is also bringing Communities out of beta and adding new features to it. Communities launched last year as dedicated spaces for users to discuss specific interests, including basketball, television, K-pop, and books.
Users will now be able to find these spaces through a new Communities Hub. Communities will also get distinct icons, making them easier to recognize in the app.
Instagram head Connor Hayes told TechCrunch that the Discovery Hub is meant to help users find relevant communities more easily.
He said Threads users have a better experience when they use the app with a clear purpose and quickly find people who share their interests.
Threads is also expanding Live Chats to more communities. The feature allows real-time conversations during cultural events such as the Fifa World Cup.
Threads is adding the ability to co-host chats and quote moments to the feed. By July, all communities will be able to start Live Chats.
Hayes said users have responded positively to Threads as a quieter social app at a time when many platforms are focused heavily on video.
He said Live Chats work as a second-screen experience for people watching events while following commentary.
The expansion of Live Chats could help Threads compete more directly with X in real-time conversations.
When Threads first launched, it lacked several features that made X useful during breaking news and live events, including stronger search, hashtags and a chronological feed.
Meta has added several of these features over time and is now trying to close the gap further with Live Chats and algorithm controls.
Threads added 100 million monthly users in the past 10 months. Meta said in August 2025 that Threads had 400 million monthly active users. The platform has now reached 500 million monthly active users.
The growth follows several new features launched over the past year, including DMs, ghost posts, desktop messaging and more.
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