Meta is making progress in disentangling Threads from Instagram. Users can now delete their Threads account without affecting their Instagram account, according to the app’s top exec, Adam Mosseri. To remove their profile from the Threads app, users can go to Settings -> Account -> Delete or deactivate profile.
Users have been asking for this feature for a long time, as they were frustrated by the inability to delete their Threads profile without also deleting their Instagram account. Additionally, Meta recently introduced another settings change that allows Threads users to choose whether or not to have their posts promoted in Instagram and Facebook’s main feeds.
Despite these changes, Instagram and Threads are still closely linked. An Instagram account is necessary to join Threads, and the app relies on Instagram’s inbox for its messaging feature. Threads also uses users’ Instagram presence for recommendations and other features.
While it is unlikely that Meta will completely separate the two services, there is hope that Threads may become more independent in the future. Meta has announced its intention to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub, the open-source protocol that powers Mastodon and other services. Although the details of this integration are not yet known, it should provide social media users with new ways to interact with Threads content, even if they do not use Instagram.
