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iMessage now supports rich links previews for Threads

iMessage will now show rich post link previews for Threads, just like Twitter and Mastodon. This means that when a user shares a link to a Threads post via iMessage, the chat bubble now conveniently shows the text of the post inline, along with the avatar and username of the post author.

This preview is based on standard meta tags supplied in the HTML page’s source code, but Apple has to explicitly whitelist providers to show the text content in the bubbles. So that means Apple is at least somewhat endorsing Threads as a legitimate platform.

Apple does not currently have an official presence for its @apple company account on Threads. However, Apple Music and Apple News have set up profiles — although they are yet to make a post. Apple Fellow Phil Schiller is the only executive so far to have a (public) account on the platform.

For a while, getting upgraded rich content previews for your social media platform on iMessage was a rare occurrence. Apple notably never supported Facebook, but it did support Twitter previews.

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, though, Apple has relatively quickly jumped on the bandwagon to give Apple users a good experience on the upstart rivals. Before the addition of Threads support, it rolled out iMessage Mastodon integration in February.

Follow Benjamin Mayo @bzamayo on Mastodon, Threads, and Twitter.

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Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.


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