The Threads team hasn't yet committed to developing a separate inbox or direct messaging system for the social network, despite user requests, and will continue to use Instagram's inbox, although the company may make it easier to send messages to Instagram from the Threads app.
App researcher Adwaith Varma posted an unannounced Threads feature on Threads, highlighting a new message button on users' profiles: Tapping on that button will reveal a text box and send button, allowing you to quickly send a message to someone's Instagram inbox.
Threads confirmed to TechCrunch that this is a public test with a limited number of users and is not currently active, but it does mean the company may introduce at least some functionality to initiate messages directly from Threads.
Currently, the only way to privately message a user is to tap on the Instagram icon on their profile and send them a message from your Instagram inbox.
Threads is still tightly integrated with Instagram, making it unsuitable for users with private profiles, and Instagram DMs are also not a good way to reach out to people who aren't very active on that particular social network.
The move contrasts with rivals X and Bluesky. X/Twitter has had a direct messaging system for years. Under Elon Musk's direction, the company also offered features such as message editing. Earlier this year, Bluesky released a direct messaging product, with plans to add end-to-end encryption support in the future. Mastdon doesn't have a dedicated inbox, but users can publish posts that can only be seen by those mentioned.
Threads isn't focused on building separate inboxes, but Instagram head Adam Mosseri has previously said it could be a possibility if the company can't make a unified inbox work. In his message, Mosseri said the idea is that people you follow on both Instagram and Threads are similar people. But some people have completely different timelines in the two separate social graphs, and some even overlap. Here's hoping Threads creates separate inboxes.