How to make a Twitter account private

You love tweeting and using Twitter, but you don't want anyone to see your profile and tweets. Fortunately, there is a solution: switch to a private Twitter account. When you have a private account, only people who follow you can see what you like, tweet or follow you on Twitter.

But how do you switch to a private account? The process is quite similar to switching to a private profile on other social media networks. You can find the necessary steps to do so in this article.

How to make your Twitter account private from a PC

When you join Twitter, you can choose whether your Tweets are public or private. The setting to make your profile private is called “Protect your tweets”. When new followers seek to follow you, you'll receive an invitation, which you can accept or decline if your Tweets are protected. Unless you explicitly disallow them, accounts that started following you before you started protecting your Tweets will still have access to and interact with your protected Tweets.

You can switch between protected and unprotected tweets at any time. This can be done through the Twitter mobile app or website. To make your Twitter account private using a PC, the steps are:

1. Log in to your Twitter account using your web browser.
   
2. On the left side of the screen, click on the "Notifications" tab, then click on the small gear symbol to its right. This will take you to your Settings page.
   
3. To the right of your username, choose the "Privacy & Security" tab. This will provide a list of available settings.
   
4. Click on "Protect your Tweets" and a pop-up will appear asking you to confirm that you want to make your Twitter account private.
   
5. At the bottom of the screen, click on "Protect" and confirm by typing your password.
   

How to make your Twitter account private from the iPhone app

You can also change your privacy settings from your iPhone app. Follow these steps to do so:

1. Launch the Twitter app.
   
2. At the top of your screen, tap the gear icon to access your account settings page to the right of the Twitter search bar.
   
3. Select "Privacy & Security" from the drop-down menu next to your username.
   
4. Adjust the slider next to "Protect your Tweets". It will turn green, indicating the feature is enabled and your tweets are protected/private.
   
5. When you're done, tap "Done." Your tweets have been secured.

Keep in mind that while making your Twitter account private prevents new visitors from seeing your tweets, the feature isn't retroactive. This means that any followers you acquired before setting your account to private will continue to see your tweets. However, you can remove accounts from your following list if you want your tweets hidden from them.

How to make your Twitter account private from the Android app

Changing your account privacy settings from an Android app is very similar to changing them from an iOS app. The steps are also quite similar. To change your Twitter profile to a private account, the steps are:

1. Open the Twitter app.
   
2. To the right of the Twitter search bar at the top of your screen, tap the gear symbol to open your account settings page.
   
3. In the drop-down option next to your connection, select "Privacy and security".
   
4. Adjust the slider next to "Protect your tweets" so that it turns green, indicating that the feature has been enabled and your tweets have been protected.
   
5. Once you have completed the steps, tap "Done". You will need to enter your Twitter password.

As mentioned earlier, regarding the followers you had before changing the privacy setting, they can still see your tweets. On the other hand, you can remove accounts from your following list if you want your tweets to remain private from specific accounts.

How to Make Your Twitter Account Private from an iPad

Since the Twitter app for iPad is the same as the iPhone app, the steps are also similar.

1. Launch the Twitter app.
   
2. Tap the gear symbol located to the right of the Twitter search bar at the top of your screen. This will take you to the Account Settings page.
   
3. Select "Privacy and Security" from the drop-down menu that appears next to your login information.
   
4. Hover the slider next to "Protect your tweets" to the green position, indicating that the feature has been enabled and your tweets are now private.
   
5. Once you're done, click the "Done" button. You will be prompted for your Twitter account password.

Additional FAQs

How do I unprotect my tweets?

To unprotect your Tweets, simply follow the steps already mentioned to access the privacy setting. Uncheck the option next to "Protect my Tweets" if you're using a web browser. Disable the slider next to "Protect your tweets" in the Twitter for iOS and Twitter for Android apps to prevent your tweets from being protected.

It's important to check your current follower requests before making your Twitter posts public. Any unanswered request will not be automatically approved. If you leave a request pending, these accounts will need to request to follow you again.

Please keep in mind that if you unprotect your Tweets, all previously protected Tweets will be made public.

What will change when switching to a private Twitter account?

Make sure you fully understand the implications of keeping your Twitter account and your tweets private before making the decision to do so. When you choose to keep your tweets private, other users will need to request to follow you and you will need to confirm all requests before they are accepted.

Only followers who have been approved will be able to see your tweets. Other users will not be able to retweet your posts unless they follow you. Also, only searches made on Twitter by your approved followers will return results for your tweets as they will not appear in any Google searches.

Your Twitter profile will only show your name, profile picture, and bio information at this time. Unless you send them to your approved followers, the @replies you send won't be seen by anyone else. For example, if you tweet a celebrity, they won't be able to see it since you haven't given them permission to follow you.

Anything you tweeted when your account was open to the public will now be hidden and will only be visible or viewable to your approved followers, as opposed to the general public. Finally, to share permalinks to your tweets with your authorized followers, you must first have them approve your account.

Why are my tweets protected but still appearing in search results?

After protecting your Tweets, only you and your followers will be able to read your updates and see your Tweets when they search Twitter.

These Tweets will no longer be visible to the general public or displayed in public Twitter search results if you previously had them visible to the general public. On the other hand, if you unprotect your Tweets, all Tweets once protected will be made public.

However, if your tweets ended up on another platform, they may still appear in search results. With respect to the content of other web pages, Twitter does not have the ability to remove it.

Tweet privately

Now that you know how to switch to a private account, your tweets will no longer be accessible to the general public like they were before. Your tweets will now only be visible to people who already follow you. In addition, anyone wishing to follow you will have to send you a request, which you will have the possibility to approve or refuse, according to your preferences.

But your tweets can be captured and posted publicly by others, as Twitter reports as the worst case scenario. Still, the feature should be enough if you'd rather not have random accounts on the internet to view and comment on your tweets.

Is your Twitter account private or public? Do you think having a private Twitter account is better than having a public account? Let us know in the comment section below!