Threads is testing a new shortcut designed to make sending a direct message to someone much simpler. The Meta-owned company announced the test on Thursday. Users who are part of this experiment can now type “DM me” or “Message me” within a post or a reply. This action will automatically generate a link that invites others to start a private conversation with them.
Tapping on this shortcut takes you directly to a one-on-one chat with that person. If you both follow each other, your message will go straight to their primary inbox. If you do not follow each other, the message is routed through a “Message Requests” folder, a measure intended to help prevent spam.
This new shortcut eliminates the need to navigate to a person’s profile to begin a direct message conversation. While Threads was late to introduce a native direct messaging feature, this latest update signals that the social network aims to make messaging a more central part of its platform by reducing the number of steps required to start a conversation.
The new feature is currently rolling out to a select group of users in the United States and Canada. As with any test feature, it is unknown when or if Threads plans to make it available more widely.
The direct message shortcut is just one of several new features introduced on Threads in recent months. The platform recently launched an AI-powered tool that lets users personalize their feed, and added the ability to share posts directly to an Instagram Story without leaving the Threads app. Additionally, Threads was spotted exploring in-message games last month.
These additions come as a recent report from the market intelligence firm Similarweb suggested that Threads now surpasses X in daily mobile usage. The report revealed that Threads had 141.5 million daily active users on mobile as of January 7, 2026, while X had 125 million daily active users. Although X still dominates Threads in terms of web usage, the Threads mobile app for iOS and Android has continued to see an increase in daily active users over the past several months.