Thread, by default, sets a profile to public, which means it would be accessible to all those people who are using the app. But what if you want to make Threads private in order to control more over it?
To stop unknown users from creeping into your account, you can make it private. It helps in securing privacy within the limit of your boundaries.
After keeping an account private, the people who are not friends with you won’t be able to access your Threads posts. Only your friends can see and react to your content.
This article explains how to make a Threads account private if you want to secure it and not show your personal details to the world.
Table of Contents
What Does It Mean to Make Threads Account Private?
Making a Thread account private is similar to making a Facebook account private. By doing so, you can protect your account access from those random people who are in Threads.
People won’t be able to access your content until you allow them to see it. Even if they follow you on the app, it still does not show your posts.
They can only see your recent profile picture along with a bio and username.
Until or unless you accept their request, the app prevents them from viewing your personal details.
Why Should I Make My Threads Account Private?
In order to increase your privacy on the app, you need to make your Threads accounts private. Some other additional reasons to make your Thread account private are given as follows:
1. To enhance privacy
When you set your profile settings to public, everyone who uses Threads can visit your profile. By this, people can access your personal things and other information like the name of your current place and the school you are studying.
They can follow you according to your account information and may cause harm to you, so in order to enhance your privacy and avoid online scammers, you need to make your account private.
2. To control the followers
Not only on Threads but almost on all social media, people use to follow someone by visiting others’ profiles. They want to keep in touch with you with good or bad intentions.
So, to maintain your privacy and to control unwanted followers, it is necessary to enable private mode on your profile.
3. Protection of personal information
The app shows most of the information you put in while logging into an account. They can misuse this information and may lead you to the way of harm.
It shows all the pictures, images, and other statuses you shared on the app. And they may also be able to get your personal details from the account, such as your email address, contact number, and date of birth.
They can misuse your personal information. So, to prevent yourself and your account details from being misused, you need to turn the account private.
Besides these reasons, you can private your account to hide sensitive private activity, prevent your content from stealing and reposting, and reduce the chance of identity theft.
How to Make Threads Account Private
Although Threads is an Instagram-affiliated app, the functions of it work differently as compared to both apps. When you permit the app to shift all the existing followers of Instagram, this will do so. But, it is not the same in the privacy cases.
You need to turn your account to private mode on Threads even if your Instagram account is public. If you are wondering about the process, stay calm because we are here to solve your problem.
Here, we will show you a step-to-step guide to making Threads account private. Go through the given simple steps to do so.
Here’s how you can turn on private mode on Threads. You can go through the same steps for Android and iPhone. This is because of the similar steps of both smartphones.
1. Open the Threads application on your mobile phone and log in to your account if you haven’t done it before. You will directly land on the news feed of the app. There you can see the quotes and other posts from different pages.
2. Then, go to the profile tab that is situated in the bottom right corner of the page. Instantly after tapping it, you will enter your profile settings page, where you can see your profile picture, username, posts you shared, and other icons.
3. Touch on the two-line icon from the top of the screen just above your profile picture. It is a settings icon of the app. Immediately after tapping it, a list of menus will appear on your display.
4. Select “Privacy” from there to continue the process. There you can control people who can view your profile and mention you. And also the way to see the peoples whom you have muted or blocked.
5. After this, toggle on the radio button of the private profile. There you will get a confirmation message that only approved followers will be able to see and interact with your content.
6. If you are sure about the changes you did, then tap on “OK” to complete the process. Or you can also go back to the home page by tapping cancel if you have reached there accidentally.
This is how you can make Threads account private. Unfortunately, Threads has not yet introduced a feature allowing only a few selected persons to access the images and videos you post on the app.
A shortcut way to make your Thread account private: Open the app on your mobile phone and then open the profile tab from the bottom right corner. Then touch on the “Globe icon” from the top left corner, which symbolizes your account is public. After this, “Toggle on” the radio button of the private profile.
What Happens When You Make Your Threads Private?
Your Thread profile picture, bio, and the content you shared can be seen by all those who use the app worldwide if you haven’t changed the settings. This is because, by default, the app allows all people who have Threads accounts to reach your account.
Let’s see what more will happen when you make your Threads private.
1. The people who search your account and try to view your content will get to see that the account is private. They won’t be able to access anything except your profile picture, username, and bio.
2. Even if they follow you, they are not allowed to see your posts until or unless you accept their proposal.
3. However, existing friends can see your posts, their likes, and comments as usual. They can also see your likes and comments on other public posts.
Similarly, the people following you will be able to access every post you set to the public once you confirm their request. The app does not notify the person whom you block on Threads.
It is the same for taking screenshots if you have a question about whether the Threads notify someone when you take screenshots.
What Happens to Your Existing Followers If You Make Account Private?
By turning an account private, all your posts will be automatically hidden for those who are not friends with you on the app. Even if they send you a follow request, they still can’t access your information other than your profile picture and bio.
However, the same changes will not happen to everyone. The number of current followers will remain the same. This feature does not change anything to the existing followers.
The current followers will still see your posts as normal. And also can do like and comments on the quotes and items you shared. They can see if you like and comment on public posts and can reply to those comments.
However, if you remove them from your following list, they won’t be able to find your content as previously. You need to approve them in order to let them view all those pictures, statuses, quotes, and videos you shared on Threads.
How Can I Change My Account Back to Public
Even after setting the account privacy to private, you may want to change it back to normal because of personal reasons.
If you want every people to see your profile and can follow you, then you need to step back from the private account. For this,
1. Open the Threads app on your device and then go to your profile.
2. Then, touch on the two-line icon from the top right corner.
3. After this, select “Privacy” from the available menu list.
4. Then, “Toggle off” the radio button.
5. And then tap “OK” to make your account public.
In this way, you can easily turn back your account from private to public and vice versa.
You post photos and videos on the app, which could be the medium for others to recognize you. So, to make your friend easy to recognize you, it is necessary to set the account profile to public.
By turning your account public, anyone can like and make remarks on your posts which ultimately helps increase the no. of reactions and comments.
Turning on a private account on Instagram does not turn the account into private mode on Threads.
What Happens If I Block or Remove a Follower from Private Account?
If you remove a follower with a private account, the person can’t see your past or present posts. This happens because your account is private for the people who are not friends with you on the app.
However, if you accept the following request of those people, then they will be able to access your posts for sure.
If you choose the option to block a person on Threads, then he/ she will not be able to find your content on it. But y profile picture, username, and bio will be accessible to them.
Similarly, they won’t be notified that you have blocked them, and you can unblock them at any time from the settings.
If you block someone on Instagram who is friends with you on Threads, then they will also be blocked from the Threads app. Similarly, if you unblock someone on Instagram, the account will also automatically unblock on Threads.
Will My Private Threads Account Be Visible in Search Results
If someone can be visible in search results, the answer is YES if you are searching for a direct answer. Any people can find your account and can follow you even if you set your Thread profile to private.
There won’t be any effect on the existing followers even if you turn your account private. And for the other people who are not connected with you on the app will also find your account. But they can’t see your posts until you approve their following request.
FAQs
A: The reason behind making Threads accounts private because of their privacy. If someone wants to keep their personal safe and shares it within the boundary of well-known people, then there is a chance that they have made their profile private.
A: Yes, there is no doubt that you can’t see public accounts if your account is private. You can access those accounts and their post if the profile is not private.
By making your profile private, the app restricts random people from seeing your content.
A: Yes. You can approve or deny follower requests on a private account. It is not mandatory to approve or deny.
The app does not confirm or reject the proposal by default. So, it’s in your hand whether you want to accept or reject the follower proposal on Threads while having a private account.
Wrapping Up
You can make your Threads profile private to secure your personal information in order to prevent them from scammers and fraudsters. If you are concerned about your sensitive activity, making Threads private is mandatory.
Similarly, by turning on the account private, there is less chance of stealing your content and posts from the app. You can go through the above given step-by-step guide to make your Threads private.
Additionally, we recommend you learn more about Threads, deactivate the account and hide the likes counts.
