Skip to Main Content

How to Limit Who Can Reply to Your Tweets

How to Limit Who Can Reply to Your Tweets
Credit: Ink Drop - Shutterstock

iOS: Twitter users can now limit who can reply to their tweets using the iOS app—and here’s hoping this feature rolls out to Android and the web in the near future. It’s that helpful when it comes to limiting the potential for harassment on that cursed website.

Users can restrict replies to only people they follow, or even only to other users mentioned in the tweet. You’ll have to select one of the new options on each new tweet prior to posting it if you want to limit replies, or else everyone who follows you will be able to reply as normal by default (you can’t limit replies on old tweets). People who follow you can still see the Tweets, even if they aren’t allowed to reply.

How to restrict who can reply to a tweet

The latest iOS Twitter update adds the new reply options, but the timing of the rollout might differ for everyone. I checked on an iPhone and an iPad Pro and didn’t personally see the feature (nor do I have any pending updates), but it should be available soon. There’s no word on when Android and desktop users might be able to limit replies, but we expect it’ll show up on those platforms in future updates.

If you have the tweet-limiting feature, using it is easy:

  1. Open the Twitter iOS app, then draft a new tweet.

  2. Tap “Everyone can reply to this tweet” link above the keyboard.

  3. Select who can reply from the options listed: “Everyone,” “People you follow” or “Only people you mention.”

  4. Wrap up the tweet and tap “Send” to post it.

Some argue this feature is antithetical to the ethos of Twitter—its longstanding status as an unchecked firehose of ideas, as it were. That may have been true in the early days of the website, but the Twitter of today is a very different place. The platform has a gigantic problem with abuse and inconsistent moderation standards, and I think this new option is a wise decision on their part, and could help curb some of these issues.

Twitter is hardly the haven of enlightened debate and free speech some folks make it out to be; it’s just a social media site, one used by people of all walks of life. Sometimes people just want to share their thoughts without worrying about trolls and unsolicited “well, actually...” replies clogging their mentions. For many users, the mute, block and, now, reply-limiting features are the only things that make Twitter worth using.