Threads is celebrating its birthday with a hidden cake giving away cool new icons

The social network is about to celebrate one year

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Threadsis about to turn one, as Meta’s answer to X (née Twitter), officially hit the scene on July 5, 2023. Zuck sent out a pre-celebration Thread calling out more than 175 million active users on the platform, but another birthday treat is hidden in the app.

Whether you’re on aniPhoneor anAndroidlike a Pixel, Galaxy, orMotorola, there is a new reason to open Threads and visit your profile. Why? You’ll have the opportunity to unlock some custom app icons, and Meta’s gamified the experience like a scratch-off.

You want to click on the birthday cake, right?

Once in theThreadsapp on Android or iOS, you’ll want to head over to your profile by tapping the person icon in the bottom right corner. From there, you might immediately notice a new birthday cake icon – with a single candle – in between the icon for Instagram and the hamburger menu. It’s right above your profile photo.

From there, you’ll see a new page in the app proclaiming “Threads in turning one!” The app is celebrating by letting you unlock icons designed by Thread users.

To unlock, you simply scratch off a shiny, silver icon next to the boring old icon for Threads. On day one, July 3, 2024, you’ll score a unique interpretation of the app logo made by@maxymachen. Once revealed, you can set it as your icon, and there should be four more to unlock later on. At least, there are four blank icons on this page.

Additionally, Threads notes that the ability to change your icon won’t last forever, and the functionality will end on July 12, 2024.

This is certainly a fun way to celebrate a year ofThreads, posting your own scratch-off or even rethreading or engaging with someone else’s. If you’re keen to score a fresh icon, we’d recommend heading over to the app – make sure you’re running the latest version – and scratch to reveal a new icon each day to eventually win them all.

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

You Might Also Like

Jacob Krol is the US Managing Editor, News for TechRadar. He’s been writing about technology since he was 14 when he started his own tech blog. Since then Jacob has worked for a plethora of publications including CNN Underscored, TheStreet, Parade, Men’s Journal, Mashable, CNET, and CNBC among others.

He specializes in covering companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google and going hands-on with mobile devices, smart home gadgets, TVs, and wearables. In his spare time, you can find Jacob listening to Bruce Springsteen, building a Lego set, or binge-watching the latest from Disney, Marvel, or Star Wars.

Discord is firing back against MapleStory devs over copyright infringement and users are caught in the crossfire

Instagram is making a big change in how it lets you share information about yourself

Google TV will require more RAM for future upgrades – which might leave older TVs and streaming boxes behind