How to install Threads on Android devices if you live in Europe
Meta launched Threads today and claims that millions have downloaded the Twitter competitor already hours after launch. Threads launched in over 100 countries, but not in states of the European Union and some other countries.
Meta is facing privacy concerns in Europe and Meta failed to mollify the European Union's data protection supervisors. The consequence is that users from the European Union may not install Threads at the time. A search for Threads on the Google Play store turns up empty.
Threads is offered as a standalone application, but it does require an Instagram account. While that may be a hurdle for some users, it is convenient for the hundred of million Instagram users, especially since they may bring their followers and other data over from Instagram to avoid having to start from scratch.
Users from the European Union may install Threads and start using it. While the official download via the Google Play store is not provided at the time, a bypass is available that allows users from Europe to install and use Threads.
Here is what is required:
- An Android device, as this will work only on Android and not on iOS.
- An Instagram account.
- A VPN account, e.g., from Mullvad, NordVPN or others, that support selecting servers based on region.
Note: there is always a risk to downloading an Android application from a third-party source. The mirror that we picked is legitimate, but if you are in doubt, please wait for the official release of the application in Europe.
Step 1: Download the latest Threads Android APK file using a web browser on the Android device.
Point the web browser to this APK Pure website address and select the download APK button on it. You can also download it from APK Mirror.
Step 2: Connect to a VPN server
Start the VPN service on the Android device and connect to a server that is located outside of the European Union, e.g., a United States server.
How that is done depends on the VPN that you use. In NordVPN, you simple select United States to connect to a server located in that cocuntry.
Step 3: Start the Threads installation
Open the downloaded Threads APK file on the Android device to install it. Note that you may need to allow the app that you are using, e.g., the web browser, to install files from unknown sources. Follow the instructions and proceed with the installation of Threads on the Android device.
The installation should go through without issues, as it assumes that the device is in a supported region.
Step 4: Threads initial setup
Once you have done that, you go through the initial setup. This involves selecting an Instagram account, if Instagram is installed on the device, or entering the Instagram account name and password.
You may import some data from Instagram to Threads, but this is no requirement.
Note that you do not need the VPN connection anymore at this stage, as no further checks are run when the application is started or used.
Seems like the app isn’t working anymore, not sure if it’s Threads having problems in general, or just the APK? Was working fine until this morning.
There are black clouds on the horizon for big tech when the EU Digital Services Act comes into force on 25 August this year. Initially, the following 19 biggest platforms will have just four months to comply with the new act or face sizable fines of up to 6% of turnover, or even get banned in the EU.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_2413
After the four month period all online platforms, large or small will have to comply. This is probably why Threads isn’t officially available in the EU, but considering an Instagram account is necessary in order to use it Meta will still be affected since Instagram is one of the 19 platforms in the list.
Good news for consumers on this side of the Pond in any event.
Might as well write an article about how to crap your pants. Same thing.
Has anyone here bothered to look at the plethora of spying this app does, it’s basically the tiktok of privacy issues but I guess because it is made in the good ol US of A it’s fine. Where are the privacy advocates now??
It’s also so tightly woven with Instagram which means at this stage you cannot disassociate yourself completely from Threads if you set it up with your instagram account without deleting that also.
What this demonstrates is that everyone is fed up with Twitter and will leap on just about anything to get away from twitter since it has become an utterly dysfunctional joke.
I haven’t looked at Bluesky or T2 but they have definitely lost a window of opportunity to capitalize on the failures of Twitter brought to you courtesy of Musk mouth and his puppet CEO.
“everyone”, more like those that scream the loudest and/or a Musk haters since a long time.
Why would someone want to install this super annoying piece of spyware? I’d rather you spend an article on how to avoid it being installed (which will definitely be the case in the future).
I would rather an article warning of the dangers of using this conduit of spyware as well as a breakdown of the garbage and what it means for people.
I feel as though TikTok demonstrated that you could spy on your users and the majority of morons will eat it up without question and continue to do so even after they are confronted with evidence of their privacy being invaded.
There are plenty examples of society being weak and folding to the will of corporations.
> I feel as though TikTok demonstrated that you could spy on your users and the majority of morons will eat it up without question and continue to do so even after they are confronted with evidence of their privacy being invaded.
There are plenty examples of society being weak and folding to the will of corporations.
Twitter (of Elon Musk) is a propaganda tool for Trump,
but Facebook (as well as Google) makes a business out of personal information, and moreover, account leaks due to data breaches are frequent.
Either way, both are awful.
It’s so severe that people are fighting over which one is the worst, but users who can’t directly feel the damage say, “It’s nothing to do with me. I’m no problem”. It has become a tool that should “an exploit that all data of user”.
By the way, public security agencies are paying attention to the cameras installed in self-driving cars as a “surveillance tool” and have begun to request the provision of all recorded data.
Looking at the present and the future,
It is very “It’s not someone else’s problem”, and if we do not act now, the situation will be irreversible, so It is concerned.
When i tried to install it i got a app not compatible with your device error.
Don’t threads on me
Errr, no thanks… Meta are still a terrible company,
I’m wondering when we will see a Threads privacy frontend in the same vein as Nitter.
I dumped Facebook back in 2012 and never had an Instagram account so I won’t be missing Meta’s app, but it’s probably a good thing that Twitter suddenly has a well known competitor now which should bring a change of heart to Musk’s policy regarding shutting out non-account holders from viewing tweets.
“Meta is facing privacy concerns in Europe, and Meta failed to mollify the European Union’s data protection supervisors. The consequence is that users from the European Union may not install Threads at the time.” That’s one red flag.
Forget any privacy concerns; the flippin’ desperation of the masses [go through a VPN, download from an unreliable source]–gotta have the new social media toy to keep up with the fallacy and illusion of being “with it.” That’s a second.
“Note: there is always a risk to downloading an Android application from a third-party source. The mirror that we [who is this “we”? and why is this “we” a reliable team?] picked is legitimate.”
“Legitimate”–That’s conjecture/assumption at best; no one knows how reliable, but “Using APKPure — just like any unofficial app source — isn’t 100% safe and is not recommended. The reasoning isn’t any different from saying “Pirate Bay” is a “legitimate” source because it’s been hosting for 20 years.
Note: “In 2021, malware on the APKPure app flooded Android users with adware.”
The user does have a choice.
Apkpure is a totally fine, what an obnoxious take. Really, adware? If I install an app and it has more adverts than I’d like to see – do you know what I do in such an instance? I uninstall it! I know, totally crazy…
Or, I edit the permissions manifest to remove needless permissions, so an app that has no reason to access the web, is unable to access the web.
By the way, unlike the pirate bay, there is nothing illegal about hosting an apk, unless that apk is somehow “cracked” or modified in a special manner. Do not conflate file-hosting with piracy by default. The pirate bay usually hosts content that had to be paid for to be accessed. Apkpure, for the most part, does not do this, and even certain exceptions have valid justifications.
For example, riddle me this: what would you do if you wanted to play a game which was originally a paid app? The app is for an ancient version of android, it’s not supported, and not sold any more. If you get the legitimate version of the app, it is broken because it can’t authenticate your purchase, because the server is gone. This is a legitimate instance where a cracked apk is not immoral to use, and it’s an absolutely victimless action to do so.
Here’s an even more “legal” example: I want to play a game, but the game is not supported for my version of android. Well, one year ago, it was supported and running fine. The developers decided to just not let it be installed for my OS any more. The game is fully offline. I am going to get an older apk of the game, and play it. Nobody is harmed in this example either – but this option is not available through “official channels”.
There is nuance to all of this, painting things as if they’re black and white makes you come off as completely uneducated.
“The user does have a choice.” He who doesn’t know what options he has available, will think he has no options available. In fact, there is always a choice, but, one thing I will agree on: the best choice here is to steer clear of the “Threads” app.
Good to agree on something.
In your earlier comment, you are absolutely fine with using the Aurora Store even though it Violates Google Play TOS [Violates §3.3 of Google Play Terms of Service, which can lead to an account ban if you use with your regular Google account.]
The service obtains apps directly from Google Play Store without using a Google Account. Sort of like knowing how to obtain “media” directly without having a streaming account. I guess it’s all good; for me, it’s sidestepping the “legal” route to obtain an app that I can positively live without.
“What would you do if you wanted to play a game which was originally a paid app?”
Personally, I’d forget about the app and move forward, but I understand the silly need to have that one app that one can’t have anymore–whatever the reason.
“Apkpure, for the most part, does not do this, and even certain exceptions have valid justifications.”
Yes, and each user must and will self-validate those “certain exceptions” in his/her mind; and life, the Universe, and everything else goes on without a hiccup.
Then another “exception” arises; then another; then another. Until . . . “nuances” lose their meaning and there’s no point for having any TOS, etc. Everything turns into this wonderful blue lagoon filled with freedom and happiness–and no rules!
Free and open marketplace–may be the ideal.
The reasoning demonstrated is close to that found in “Button, Button” by Asimov.
@VioletMoon – >”In your earlier comment, you are absolutely fine with using the Aurora Store even though it Violates Google Play TOS [Violates §3.3 of Google Play Terms of Service, which can lead to an account ban if you use with your regular Google account.]”
>”The service obtains apps directly from Google Play Store without using a Google Account. Sort of like knowing how to obtain “media” directly without having a streaming account. I guess it’s all good; for me, it’s sidestepping the “legal” route to obtain an app that I can positively live without.”
Since this comment is probably aimed at my post about Aurora Store, I’ll reply – I do not sign into a Google Account on any devices, so the threat of an account ban from using Google Play store doesn’t concern me.
I think that Aurora does sign itself up for various Google accounts, and passes the apk’s on to the end user. I don’t know how that jives with Google’s terms of service. If I found it was “illegal” (which is very hard to believe that it could be), then I would probably just stop using Android or any Android clones altogether. There are various GNU/Linux distros that will run a variety of cell phones and tablets now – I don’t feel tied to the Android ecosystem at all.
I rarely use Aurora Store, getting nearly every apk I use from F-Droid. The F-Droid devs claim to personally build and inspect every apk, and only work with freely licensed code, so it’s probably the safest of all apk stores, much safer than Google Play itself, which is regularly littered with dangerous malware.
VioletMoon,
I never said I support or condone Aurora Store, and I’ve also never used it. I just said I was intrigued by it. So your first two paragraphs are hardly aimed at me, you are trying to accuse me of something I haven’t done or said.
But, do you know: the Google Play Services framework does not work on my phone, it is utterly broken, hard crash whenever I open the google play store. Answer me, what would you have me do, to update system apps?
Regarding one of my examples, you said :”Personally, I’d forget about the app and move forward” So no answer, you’d give up, being hamstrung by rules that categorically do not matter. As someone interested in the preservation and archival of media, I strongly disagree with this pathetic attitude. In my example, it was a game, but you should have the ability to entertain the hypothetical, the app could be absolutely anything else, doesn’t have to be a game.
“…and life, the Universe, and everything else goes on without a hiccup.” Yeah, you know what? It does. People have agency, and the ability to decide things for themselves, they are not some sheep that are unable to have an independent thought, people trial, test things, find what works, and what doesn’t. Do you suggest it should not be this way? Your alternatives are “give up” and “do nothing”. Very compelling!
““nuances” lose their meaning and there’s no point for having any TOS” Do they? I am not sure that’s the case, as someone who categorically doesn’t do any of this stuff, how would you know about the mindset of someone that does? All of the examples I gave were entirely valid, you didn’t disagree, your argument is “but someone, somewhere, is going to have justifications that I don’t find valid”, well, when you meet that person, talk to them about it, not me.
Google Play’s TOS is written up entirely for the benefit of Google, you do realise that? The end user is a complete afterthought, there may even be non-enforceable things contained. Well I, as a person, have my own TOS, which overrides any silly company trying to encroach on what I can and cannot do, where deemed appropriate, or justified, without requiring prior notice.
“Everything turns into this wonderful blue lagoon filled with freedom and happiness–and no rules” Does it upset you, that people have the freedom and agency to do trivial things like “install apk files from 3rd party sources”? (Which by the way, by itself doesn’t violate anything, like I mentioned earlier).
There will never be a “free and open marketplace” as you describe – which company do you nominate to be in charge of such a project? Evidently none would be “worthy”, the conflicts of interest and desire for control would creep in, and you will just get a repeat of the current “markets”. The absolute best you can do is have websites which archive apps in their various stages of release, and then just have them, available for download without DRM or restrictions, regardless of whether they comply with some arbitrary terms, regardless of whether the developer wants to change/take down the app, regardless of whether the app is banned, or whether it’s too old for modern phones.
People should always have the choice to get apps/programs without having to go through some unified store which will require them to give away personal info, and will place arbitrary restrictions on them, their device, and their apps. Because all these stores, (apple’s app store, MS store, google play store) have their biases, and can impose or take away anything at will. Not a system I will live under.
Sorry for the rant, but pernicious attitudes such as yours cannot easily be broken down with a single paragraph.
@bruh–“Personally, I’d forget about the app and move forward, but I understand the silly need to have that one app that one can’t have anymore–whatever the reason.”
For me, letting go and moving forward is significantly different from doing nothing; the idea here is that we become accustomed and somewhat enslaved by “the old” and fail to realize there are so many new opportunities to embrace that [for me, anyway] coveting something old isn’t worth the energy expenditure.
There are a lot of things in life that have been left behind; I suppose I could re-connect with “old” friends/places and such, but what would be the point? Attempting to re-create something from the past has no value in the present–maybe some “comfort” value.
I think some people like to download old apps for the sake of private memories. They remember the time they used the app/game, the value it had then, and want to have a memento. I call it clutter and avoid it as much as possible.
“Does it upset you, that people have the freedom and agency to do trivial things like “install apk files from 3rd party sources”? (Which by the way, by itself doesn’t violate anything, like I mentioned earlier).”
No, it doesn’t bother me in the least unless some established TOS is being violated, which in 99% of the cases it is.
“Apkpure, for the most part, does not do this, and even certain exceptions have valid justifications.”
As I responded, “Yes, and each user must and will self-validate those “certain exceptions” in his/her mind.” Certainly, you aren’t advocating my “free agency” interfere with yours. Yet, I can’t and don’t “validate” the exceptions you are making subjectively,
“Then another “exception” arises; then another; then another–ad infinitum. Until . . . “nuances” lose their meaning and there’s no point for having any TOS, etc.
“Nuances/exceptions” are fine–everyone loves the grey zone and subjective validations for behavior/choices.
Extreme examples:
In “Mein Kampf,” Adolf Hitler has an extraordinarily valid reason [exception] for what is now coined “The Holocaust.” It was a “trivial” matter.
Truman’s decision to use two nuclear weapons–another seemingly “valid” exception to the “rules of engagement.”
A last thought for now– . . .”regardless of whether they comply with some arbitrary terms, regardless of whether the developer wants to change/take down the app.”
Whoa!
“Regardless of whether the developer wants to change/take down the app.” That’s a violation of the developer’s “free agency” which is exactly what you are promoting for yourself and others. A developer should always have the right to take down an app or even “garble” code to make an app obsolete.
In a sense, giving yourself “free agency” and denying the same to others implies that “you” “nominate [yourself] to be in charge of such a project [a free and open marketplace of programs/ideas, etc.].
Honestly?
VioletMoon forgive me for revisiting this article a few days later, but I simply cannot not reply.
Your views on these things are so categorically different than mine, that I cannot really even try to change your mind, all I will do is better explain my position, so you can try to understand “why” different people have different views.
—————-
First off, let me put this into terms you can understand. The example I gave of the now completely-inaccessible-through-legal-means game: This game had multiple developers, designers, it has music by real composers, it has voice actors, it has a plot and a story. It is essentially classified as “media” much like how a movie would be. Now imagine I come to you and say “This great movie is no longer watchable because it was released on VHS, and nobody owns a VHS player (in the world). There is a special box you can use to digitise that VHS so that it can be viewed on computers, but the VHS says on it “any attempt to copy/duplicate is strictly prohibited”, what do I do?”.
Now image you reply to me “Just forget about it, let go of the past, it’s okay that this piece of media is lost to time and cannot be experienced by anybody. That’s the way things you should be, after all, you don’t want to break the rule written on the VHS, that would be wrong”.
…So can you now see how (to borrow your own word) “silly” that is? You’re obviously wrong – we as sentient humans can interpret a law or a rule, and act according to what is reasonable. Your argument seems to stem from the evident notion that —-you don’t care—-, you are not impacted, you have no reason to put yourself into someone else’s shoes. The fact of the matter is: there are valid edge cases, your attempts to downplay this fact are at an impasse with reality.
—————-
“For me, letting go and moving forward is significantly different from doing nothing; the idea here is that we become accustomed and somewhat enslaved by “the old” and fail to realize there are so many new opportunities to embrace that [for me, anyway] coveting something old isn’t worth the energy expenditure. ”
I fail to see the difference, you just gave up and played it off as not caring. It’s like if you lose your phone and say “it’s fine, I hated that phone anyway, I’m gonna buy a newer and better one”. This happens all the time in comedy shows – the friends of the person can see through this “cope” and will say “but mate, you still lost your phone at the end of the day, you were pretty happy when you had it, now you’re just trying to make yourself feel less bad about losing it”.
——-
“unless some established TOS is being violated, which in 99% of the cases it is.” Yeah but again, it’s not. Apkpure doesn’t download from Google Play servers, let’s be generous to you and say that 75% of the apps on there are straight-apks that haven’t been cracked (it’s a much higher percentage), that’s an insanely false number (the highest I’m willing to grant you, for the sake of this hypothetical), and it still amounts to a 25% breach/violation rate. Which is very far from the 99% you claim. So which one is it, are you 1) just exaggerating, 2) being disingenuous to sound correct or 3) don’t know what you’re talking about, and guessing?
——-
You should feel so priviledged that you’re even receiving a reply. You have violated Godwin’s law in your last post, which is not only highly insensitive, but it’s also a veiled attempt to insult my integrity as a person. In reality, it is the person who cannot think for themselves and fervently follows rules/orders placed upon them that will end up commiting atrocities.
———
“Regardless of whether the developer wants to change/take down the app.” That’s a violation of the developer’s “free agency” which is exactly what you are promoting for yourself and others. A developer should always have the right to take down an app or even “garble” code to make an app obsolete.
This is simply not true, and is another example of yourself living in “happy dreamworld”. In reality you should know that, with only a few exceptions, anything which has been posted or made public on the internet, cannot be scrubbed off or erased. If a developer wants to make version 2.0 of an app, they are more than happy to do that, but to “reach out” across the internet and snatch version 1.0 from the hands/hard drives of those that have already downloaded it, they do not have such a priviledge, and it would be very bad if they did.
———
“In a sense, giving yourself “free agency” and denying the same to others”
I am denying the free agency of others how? I cannot recall such a time where I did that, please let me know if there’s something I missed. It’s very hard —not— to miss something at this point, a lot has been said.
———
I await your response to any of my above mentioned points.
@bruh–
I can assure you that your “integrity as a person” remains solid, substantial, and absolute. No one can take that away from you–certainly not comments on a blog.
You’re sending people to third party apk sites Martin? Why not tell them to install Aurora Store over F-droid, and then connect to the VPN prior to launching Aurora Store. Somehow that seems quite a bit safer to me, but maybe I’m being naive about Aurora Store?
Ideally they wouldn’t install Threads or Instagram or Twitter, but if they wanted lots of content and communication then something like FOSS-Telegram from F-droid would give them all the content they can handle.
Would prefer APKMirror be given precedence in this article over APKPure as APKMirror is generally considered more safe.
Andy, “Aurora Store” is also literally a 3rd party bit of software, sure it still downloads from Google but I am not even sure that this is better. Does it provide version history & the option to download older versions of an app? The real Google play store sure doesn’t.
I’ve gotten tons of apps from Apkpure and never had an issue, but I also have a special installer on my phone, which lets me modify the permissions manifest of any app before installing, so I can take away features like “always runs in the background”, and “runs on startup” as well as a bunch of unnecessary permissions.
The google play store has been broken on my phone for a long time, I wonder if this aurora thing can help me apply some updates to system apps (I don’t have root access :( ). I use the amazing 4.4.2 kitkat
@bruh
What’s the name of the APK that can modify the permissions manifest?
>”I wonder if this aurora thing can help me apply some updates to system apps (I don’t have root access :( ). I use the amazing 4.4.2 kitkat”
It’s probably worth a try.
>”I’ve gotten tons of apps from Apkpure and never had an issue”
Good to know! I don’t know much about apkpure.
>”I also have a special installer on my phone, which lets me modify the permissions manifest of any app before installing, so I can take away features like “always runs in the background”, and “runs on startup” as well as a bunch of unnecessary permissions.”
That sounds awesome – what is that installer called?
Andy & Anonymous:
I’m afraid you both might be rather disappointed: it’s called “Advanced Permission Manager”, I have version 3.4.2, it says it’s 2 MB in size after install. Ironically, I also got it from apkpure or a similar site.
It even tries to provide a description of every permission type, as otherwise they’re not understandable by a normal human. I trial and error things, sometimes, specific permissions render an app unusable, or the app itself complains about not having them.
(!!!)But be wary, it’s an older app, I am running it on Android KitKat, it may not even run on modern phones, or know how to deal with modern apps!
Here’s how it works: give it an apk (not installed). It will spit out an apk with a modified manifest, you then install the modified apk.
@bruh – >”it’s called “Advanced Permission Manager” … Here’s how it works: give it an apk (not installed). It will spit out an apk with a modified manifest, you then install the modified apk.”
Woah, very cool. I should probably teach myself to change the apk manifests on my own also. I’ve learned to change various things about browser extensions, possibly changing apk manifests is a similar process.
It’s certainly fun and I learned a lot whilst using it, it also gave me a lot of power over my phone where I don’t have any root access. Without it, some apps would be too obnoxious to keep installed. But the thing is, I believe modern android actually lets you toggle a wide variety of permissions on an app by app basis, after they’re installed.
…That was not really a feature on older android versions such as Kitkat! But due to the nature of how it works, it may technically be more secure because an app can never even ask for a permission from the OS if it’s not in the manifest.
Funny story:
There’s a mobile game I had, and I reinstalled it without read/write to local storage permission (because I couldn’t see how it would be necessary), and when I launched the app, the app itself told me that this permission is required to keep a local cache of user received/sent messages so they don’t have to be queried from the internet every time. The app is not developed by english-speaking people and it was an endearing message to read, even in broken english. Somehow they had coded their app to write this message when the permission is missing. It was optional but after reading that message I reinstalled the app with that permission.
The only real issue is that modern apps might not be returned in a working state after changing the manifest, the permissions modifier app is very old and hasn’t received any support/updates for many years.
Be careful on that website.
You can be prompted to install thier own site specific app installer program.
Don’t fall for it.
You can open thier apkx files with a program like winrar and do a manual install.
Why was my comment deleted?
It was not. Sometimes, comment are put into moderation automatically. They are then restored, if not spam, by a moderator.
thanks for the info!
Why would I install an other meta app onto my phone? :D
I already dumped insta and facebook.
I hope it will never be available in the eu.