How to use Threads on desktop in Windows, Mac, Linux, and ChromeOS

No need to wait for the official Threads desktop client!

Featured image depicting the Threads app running on Windows, Linux, and macOS

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Threads by now. Meta’s new social media app is unapologetically a Twitter competitor, and it’s deeply interconnected with Instagram to create an amalgamation of the two. However, access to Threads is only possible through its official iOS and Android apps at the time of this writing. We know that a web client is in the works, as you can directly go to the website in your browser to look at a user’s public Threads profile (for example, https://www.threads.net/@zuck takes you to Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads account), but there isn’t an option yet to log into Threads or create an account in the browser interface.

The lack of a proper web interface for Threads is indirectly affecting desktop users as well. Besides the fact that Meta has yet to come up with official clients for Windows/Linux/macOS, you can’t even spawn an unofficial desktop app wrapping over the web version. Thankfully, there are still ways you can experience the thrill of using Threads on your PC or Mac right now! If you don’t want to miss out, keep reading.

How to install Threads on your Windows PC

It’s been more than a year since Microsoft added support for Android apps on Windows 11 through Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA). This means as long as your laptop or desktop can run Windows 11, you should be able to install the Android version of Threads and use it right from your PC without messing with any third-party software or emulator.

Follow the steps mentioned below to install Threads via Windows Subsystem for Android:

You need to get your hands on the Android package (commonly known as the APK) of the Threads app. The official app name is “Threads, an Instagram app” and the package name is com.instagram.barcelona.
- Always opt for reputable APK hosting resources like APK Mirror to download the APK.
- If you have already installed Threads in your Android phone, you can back up the APK using ADB and reuse it.
- For compatibility reasons, it’s better to grab the x86_64 APK for regular Intel/AMD-powered PCs. If you have a Windows on Arm device, then pick the arm64-v8a variant instead for optimal performance.
Make sure that Windows Subsystem for Android is installed and configured properly.
Turn on Developer mode in WSA and sideload the Threads APK.
- It’s possible to use third-party wrappers such as WSATools to minimize command line usage.
If everything goes right, then you should be able to locate a shortcut to the Threads app in the Windows 11’s Start Menu.

Threads running under Windows 11 via WSA

Pro tip: In case you modded the WSA instance with Google apps, you can directly install the Threads app from the Play Store. That way, you don’t need to bother about updating the app manually, as the Play Store will take care of it.

How to install Threads on your PC running Linux

While you can use various emulators on Linux to run Android apps, there is no way to avoid sluggishness and slowdowns due to computational overhead. The Waydroid project, on the other hand, tackles it differently, as it uses a container-based approach to boot a full Android system by utilizing most of the host device’s native hardware. Here’s how to run Threads via Waydroid on Linux:

Install and configure Waydroid for your Linux distribution.
- Alternatively, you can download a custom distribution named Waydroid-Linux, which comes with pre-configured Waydroid tools and scripts.
Download the Threads APK from APK Mirror. As mentioned earlier, choose the x86_64 APK for regular Intel/AMD-powered PCs.
Open a Terminal window and run the following command to install the Threads app:
```
waydroid app install com.instagram.barcelona.apk
```
Replace com.instagram.barcelona.apk with the actual name and full path of the downloaded Threads APK.

Optionally, turn on multi-window support:

waydroid prop set persist.waydroid.multi_windows true

Also, apply the rotation fix for traditional PCs:

sudo waydroid shell wm set-fix-to-user-rotation enabled

The Threads app shortcut should pop up automatically in your app drawer. You can directly invoke it from the Terminal as well.
```
waydroid app launch com.instagram.barcelona
```

How to install Threads on your Mac

Owners of Apple silicon-powered Macs can run iPhone apps and iPad apps from the Mac App Store without any modification. As a result, getting a taste of Threads with a modern Mac isn’t that difficult.

The situation is a bit complicated for legacy Intel Macs, though. Due to a number of architectural differences, there’s no straightforward way to run the mobile Threads app on Intel-powered Macs. You have to rely on emulation to achieve this feat.

Download the x86_64 variant of the Threads APK from APK Mirror on the target Mac.
Install and configure Google’s Android Studio so that you can utilize its Virtual Device Manager.
Once everything’s good to go, drag the Threads APK to the emulator window.
An installation dialogue will pop up, and the app will be installed.
You can then launch Threads right from the emulator’s home screen or the app drawer.

How to install Threads on your Chromebook

The common misconception about Chromebooks or ChromeOS tablets is that the devices are powered by a lightweight operating system with very minimal app support. This is certainly not true, as current-gen Chromebooks can run Android apps out of the box. Installing Android apps on ChromeOS is very similar to the process for Android’s Play Store. Here’s how:

Open the app drawer, find the Google Play Store app, and open it.
Search or browse for the Threads app. You can also find it by clicking on the app box below.
Click on Install.
Wait for the app to install, and it will appear in your app drawer shortly after.

Bonus: Run Threads on your PC/Mac via screen mirroring

There are a plethora of phone-PC linking solutions through which you can pair your iPhone or Android device to your Windows PC/Mac and perform tasks like transferring content, sharing clipboards, as well as running certain mobile apps on your desktop. The scrcpy (short for “screen copy“) project is undoubtedly a gem in this domain, as this open-source tool allows you to mirror your Android device’s screen to a PC or a Mac. One can exploit the software to run Threads on Windows, Linux, or macOS directly from their phone without installing anything related to Meta’s app on the computer itself.

Set up ADB access on your computer and make sure the target Android device is discoverable by ADB.
Download the latest scrcpy release for your host OS and extract it.
Open up a terminal window inside the previously extracted folder, and run the scrcpy executable.
- For Windows, the command should be: scrcpy
- For Linux and macOS, the command should be: ./scrcpy
That’s it. Now locate the Threads app from the home screen or the app drawer.

Threads running under Android mirrored to Windows 11 via scrcpy

For all it is worth, you’ll miss out on a couple of features if you run Threads one of these ways. While liking, replying, or posting your own threads is possible, you can’t get proper full-screen scaling or OS-native notifications. Still, if a missing first-party app has kept you from trying out Threads on your PC/Mac, don’t hesitate to give it a spin.