Threads exploded onto the crowded landscape of would-be Twitter challengers this month, but it is still very early days for the Instagram-adjacent text-first social network.

Meta rolled out an update to the iOS version of the app on Tuesday, the second since its launch two weeks ago and the first to add any notable features.

Threads developer Cameron Roth says this new version of iOS promises a cluster of small changes paired with one big missing item: translations. It is available in many countries around the globe, but the EU remains one big exception, as Meta is currently caught up in a fight over regulations there that stifle its ad business. Having the ability to translate posts in a foreign language is incredibly valuable on an international social platform, although Instagram's own translations in some languages can be nonsensical, in our experience.

In addition to the new feature of adding translation to the mix, Threads is now adding another-the "follows tab" on the activity feed. It's the part of the app that collects replies, mentions, and other interaction kinds. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound too exciting, since the tab only lets you display all your recent followers in Threads.

The latest Threads update brings several under-the-hood improvements to the activity feed, introduces "tappable reposter labels," allows subscriber subscriptions to unfollowed users, and adds a feature to open the list of Instagram followers for a certain user. While the rollout is in effect now, says Roth, users may need to restart the app or wait until the end of the day to see the changes-they weren't showing up for us yet, but if we find anything else surprising you'll hear about it.

Threads is a lot smoother than any new social app would be, yet it still lacks many useful utilities that some users might consider integral. Some users have mourned the app's inability to offer accessibility features at launch, such as adding alt text. Mastodon and Bluesky, also competitors to Twitter, can allow for customizable alt text when it comes to writing out image descriptions-a kind of bare minimum standard these days in accessible app design.

Users have also been asking since launch for a feed that shows only content from the people you follow. That would seem to be the biggest complaint about Threads so far-the algorithm serving up a brand-heavy mix of fresh content certainly doesn't seem to be knocking it out of the park for much of anybody, yet at least.

While Instagram's Adam Mosseri has given a nod to a follows-only feed of some description, this is Meta we're talking about-don't bet on an ad-free or ad-light chronological feed unsullied by an algorithm anytime soon.