(Image credit: Future) Twitter started as a website, back before the first iPhone ever existed. While the platform adapted to include app-based versions for iOS and Android smartphones, it maintained the website version. This gives users flexibility for where and how they want to access their account and feeds. Threads is currently app-only, available to download from iOS and Android app stores. This makes it exclusively a mobile experience. Is that Meta's intention? It's hard to say at this point, but considering Instagram's website is hardly useful all these years later, it doesn't seem like a Threads site would be a priority. Price Threads is completely free to download and use, so there are no features hidden behind a paywall. There's no advertisements on Threads, but that will likely change. Instagram has become rather ad- and shopping-heavy, after all. Twitter has ads, too. But there are a slew of features that are reserved for paying members of the platform's "Twitter Blue" subscription tier. Twitter Blue costs $8/month or $84/year. The features available to Twitter Blue users is regularly changing. As of now, subscribers have the ability to edit a tweet after sending it, customize the appearance of the Twitter app icon and, most recently, a bigger rate limit of how many Tweets you can read a day. Verification If you're scrolling through your Threads feed, you'll probably see blue checkmarks next to some account handles. These checkmarks mean the user is verified. Threads verification carries over from Instagram. So, if you're verified on Instagram, you'll be verified on Threads. You can check out Instagram's guidelines to see if you qualify for verification. Twitter's verification system is a bit more complicated. Before Elon Musk took over the platform, the Twitter had similar verification guidelines to Instagram based on your public standing. These days, you can buy a verification badge via a Twitter Blue subscription. The only exceptions are that government accounts get a grey check, while certain established organizations and news outlets get a gold check. Text posts The primary use of Twitter and Threads is, for all intents and purposes, the same: share short messages that other users can view and engage with. These messages can take the form of jokes, life updates, complaints, song lyrics and anything else that might be on your mind or relevant to people who follow you. The key difference is that the Threads character limit is 500, while the Twitter character limit is just 280. This means you can share longer Threads than you can Tweets. This might not be a deal-breaker for those who have mastered the art of crafting brief messages for Twitter, though. Multimedia posts