Threads is getting some useful new features

Threads, Meta’s Twitter competitor, is getting some new features “this week,” according to a post from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The new features include the ability to share a Threads post to your Instagram DMs, a way to add custom alt text to photos and videos that you include in posts, and a new “mention button” that lets you “easily mention someone’s account in your Thread,” Zuckerberg says. (For some reason, this link only works for me on mobile.)

To share a post via Instagram DMs, tap the paper airplane-like icon on a post. To add alt text, start a post, attach photos or videos using the paperclip icon, and then tap the “Alt” button that appears on the image. I don’t appear to have the mention button — maybe I’m missing it! — but you can mention another user while drafting a post by entering the @ symbol and then typing somebody’s username or picking from one of the suggested options. And I should note that my iPhone had recently updated the Threads app, so if you’re not seeing the new features, make sure you’re on the latest version.

These updates are nice — custom alt text in particular feels like one that should have been in the app at launch — but I’m guessing many are still waiting for bigger updates like a web client and improved search. On Friday, Zuckerberg said those features are coming in “the next few weeks,” so hopefully we don’t have to wait too much longer for them. At least the app has a following feed, though I still wish it didn’t force you out of it.