At long last, Meta will let you send DMs on Threads. But there's a catch.

• Threads is rolling out a test for direct messages in the app.
• Previously, users had to switch between Threads and Instagram for direct messaging.
• DMs will only be available in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Argentina — for now.

It's about time you could send a DM on Threads.

Threads, Meta's rival app to Twitter, is officially rolling out a test that lets users send and receive direct messages within the stand-alone app.

There's a big catch, though: The test is limited to Hong Kong, Thailand, and Argentina. A Meta spokesperson said the company plans to expand into more markets, including the US, "as soon as possible."

Why is this big news for Threads users?

Well, because the direct messaging experience otherwise on the app has been incredibly … awkward.

In order to DM someone you see on the Threads feed, you'd have to send a message to their Instagram account — and then toggle back and forth between Threads and Instagram (which, granted, is maybe what Meta wants).

And for the two years since Threads launched, many users have been begging Instagram (which operates the Threads app) to introduce a native-to-Threads DM product.

In November, my colleague Katie Notopoulos wrote in a Threads post that she'd like the app to have its own DMs, adding that "Instagram DMs just have a different vibe and it feels too intimate and like I'm stalking them across platforms."

"We're going to need to figure something out, but for now, we've been leaning on Instagram DMs," Adam Mosseri, Instagram's top executive, replied to her on Threads.

DMs have always been part of Threads' long-term plan. Product imagery of a DM feature was included in an internal deck about the Threads launch from February 2023 that was submitted as evidence during the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust trial against Meta.

Meanwhile, DMs have been a top priority for Instagram across the board. The company rolled out roughly 20 new messaging features from March 2024 to March 2025.

"The amount of content people post publicly in feeds is going down across the entire industry because people are moving more and more sharing to stories — which you could argue is a different kind of feed — but even more into messaging, group chats, one-on-one chats," Mosseri recently told Business Insider's Peter Kafka.

If sending content back and forth to each other keeps us on the app, bringing DMs to Threads might just be a win-win for its users and Meta.

According to Mark Zuckerberg, Threads is "on track to become our next major social app" and surpassed 350 million monthly active users as of April.