Facebook is developing a new messaging app that will allow users to constantly share on-the-fly details such as location, speed and battery life with friends, according to a report.
Screenshots of the so-called Threads platform have been shared by tech news site The Verge, which says it has been designed to promote "constant" updates with a chosen group of pals.
While the app will reportedly allow users to manually change their details, and support Snapchat-style photo sharing in private conversations, it is meant to have a greater focus on automatic updates than other services.
The Verge says Threads is being seen as a companion experience to Instagram and will interface with "close friends" lists compiled within the photo-sharing app, which is also owned by Facebook.
Threads is being internally tested at Facebook, with staff who were working on an abandoned Instagram messaging service called Direct having reportedly been reassigned.
In the shots published by The Verge, messages can be seen in a central feed with a similar aesthetic to existing chat functionality in Instagram, with a green dot indicating who is currently online.
Users will also be able to view social media stories like those already seen in Instagram and Facebook Messenger, with the new app sporting its own camera to send photos and videos.
Should it be released, Threads may end up incorporating the same augmented reality effects added to Instagram via a recent update, allowing users to overlay a host of weird and wacky effects on to their photos and videos.
The prospect of Facebook releasing a new messaging app will come as a surprise to few, with the company having announced a pivot towards privacy during its annual developer conference earlier this year.
Founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has also spoken of plans to bring Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp under one umbrella, which Threads would also likely fall under.
Facebook has declined to comment on the report.
Source: Sky News
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