A new Instagram app is launching today that's focused on messaging.

Threads is a standalone Instagram messaging app that's meant to make it easy and fast to chat with your friends. With it, you can send photos, videos, messages, and Stories with your group of Close Friends from Instagram. This means you'll have a dedicated inbox and notifications just for chatting with those people.

Threads is launching today on Android and iOS. When you open the Threads app, you'll be greeted by the camera so that it's easier to share what you're doing. You can also add shortcuts to this screen so that you can share images and video with just two taps.

Also included with Threads are statuses. They include pre-set statuses like Studying plus the ability to create your own status. You can also set your profile to Auto-Status, which will automatically share bits of context about where you are without giving away your exact coordinates.

Instagram also says that Direct messaging in the main app isn't going anywhere, so you can continue using that for chatting through Instagram if you prefer.

While Instagram has long offered direct messaging in its main app, the goal of Threads is to make it easier to chat with the people you care the most about. That's why it's focused on Close Friends, the feature that Instagram launched last year to let you create a list of people that you can share Stories with. Now you can use Threads to quickly message with them without having to scroll through all of your other chats in the main Instagram app.