Threads launched on 5 July 2023 and signed up a hundred million people in five days, which made it the fastest-growing application in history by a wide margin. That was less a verdict on the product than on its distribution: anyone with an Instagram account could join with one tap, and Meta had two billion of those to draw on.
The design is deliberately conversational, closer to a text feed than to Instagram's grid, and it was built as an alternative to Twitter at a moment when a great many people were looking for one. Video was part of it from the beginning rather than bolted on later, which makes it behave more consistently than it does on platforms where video arrived as an afterthought.
Being young, it is also unusually volatile. Accounts are still being created and abandoned at speed, posts get deleted as people work out what tone they want to strike, and the search is rudimentary. A post you want again in a fortnight is a genuinely uncertain thing to rely on finding.
Why people save Threads video
Nothing about the platform is settled yet. People delete posts in bulk while finding their footing, abandon accounts they opened in the first rush, and move between networks. A clip that is circulating today has no particular reason to be there next month.
Searching is the other problem. Finding an old post is difficult even when you remember roughly who wrote it and when, because the tooling for going backwards barely exists. A downloaded file has a filename and a folder, which is more than the app offers.
And a good deal of what circulates there is worth moving elsewhere — sent to somebody not on Threads, kept for reference, or reposted by its own creator on a platform where it will last longer.
Saving video from a Threads post
-
1
Copy the Threads post address
Tap the share icon under the post and choose Copy link. On the web, take the threads.net or threads.com address from the browser bar. A link to a reply works just as well as the opening post.
-
2
Add it to the box above
Paste the address into the field at the top of this page and it starts reading straight away.
-
3
Pick a version
Where several encodes exist they appear with their dimensions and file size, so you can take the largest or save space with a smaller one.
-
4
Drop it onto your device
Tap the row when it turns blue. Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone, no conversion needed.
What can be reached on Threads
Threads inherits its privacy model from Instagram, so whether something can be saved comes down to whether the account behind it is public.
| Kind of post | Can it be saved? | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Video on a public account | Yes | The ordinary case |
| Video inside a reply | Yes, on a public account | Copy the link to that specific reply |
| Private account | No | An approved follower is what grants access |
| Reposted from Instagram | Usually | It behaves like any other post video |
| Linked from another site | Not from here | The file belongs to whichever site hosts it |
Because Threads accounts are tied to Instagram ones, switching an Instagram profile to private takes the Threads posts with it. A link that worked last week and fails today has often been affected by a change made somewhere else entirely.
Threads download questions
Do both threads.net and threads.com links work on Threads?
Yes. The platform uses both and either form is accepted here.
Can I save Threads video from a private account?
No. Threads follows Instagram's privacy settings, so a private account needs an approved follower.
Does it work on video inside a reply?
Yes, as long as the account is public. Copy the link to that particular reply rather than the opening post.
Will the poster know on Threads?
No. No notification is sent and no account is involved on this side.
Why did a link that worked before stop on Threads?
The post may have been deleted, or the linked Instagram account switched to private, which takes the Threads posts with it.
Can I save a whole thread at once?
No. Each post with video needs its own address.
What quality do Threads videos come in?
Whatever Threads stored. Like Instagram it re-encodes on upload, so the largest option is the best that exists.
Where does a Threads video save to?
Downloads on Android, the Files app on an iPhone.
Is there a limit on Threads how many I can do?
No cap and no queue.
Is it acceptable to download from Threads?
Public posts are public, and saving one for yourself is unremarkable. Reposting someone's video as your own remains the thing that causes trouble, on a platform whose norms are still being worked out.