Twitter is an online social networking site where people connect with each other through short excerpts of texts called “tweets”.

The visibility of these tweets is set to “Public” by default. Consequently, Twitterati or just about anybody from around the world with or without a Twitter account can view each of your tweets. Unless, of course, you tweak your privacy settings.

You would definitely want to know, how to do so. But, why? — To avoid any sort of controversy with your tweets, escape from the scrutiny of your employer or you simply believe in a privacy-first approach and just prefer to keep your opinions within yourself and your circle.

How to adjust your privacy settings and make tweets private will be the focus of this post. By the end of it, you will become equipped and informed of ways to protect your privacy on Twitter and take charge of your digital footprints.

So without further ado, let’s dive into how you can change privacy settings on Twitter in the swiftest and simplest way.

How to Change Privacy settings on Twitter?

Privacy settings can be easily changed within a span of a few clicks. All you need to do is change your tweet visibility from “Public” to “Protected” via privacy and safety settings.

Public tweets can be viewed by everybody on and off Twitter whilst Protected, private tweets can only be viewed and interacted with by your followers.

There are a few more functionalities that are invoked upon selecting the “Protect” option. They are discussed further in the article.

The adjustments you make are effective immediately upon saving the changes. But, due to Twitter being a cross-platform app, the methods to change privacy vary slightly.

Well, fret not, just follow along with our comprehensive guides which have been crafted while keeping all of this in mind. Dedicated methods have been provided to change privacy settings on each Twitter platform, Twitter iPhone, Android, Mac and PC alike.

How to Change Privacy Settings on Twitter iPhone OR Android?

To change privacy settings on the Twitter app on your iPhone or Android, follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Fire up your Twitter iOS or Android app. From the Homepage

Step 2: Tap on your profile picture. It is a small blob to the top-left of your screen.

-OR-

Step 2: Swipe from the left to the right of your screen.

Now you should be seeing a side-bar menu on your phone with a list of options namely, Help Centre, Display, Settings and Privacy so on. As the name beckoneth, the “Settings and Privacy” option is our primary concern.

Step 3: Tap on the Settings and Privacy option. This will open up a lot of safety and security-related settings and metrics. For now, ignore the rest and focus on the Privacy and Safety setting.

Step 4: Proceed to tap on the Privacy and Safety setting. That will further display a new section with all of the privacy-related customization choices.

Step 5: Click on “Protect your Tweets” and “Photo Tagging”. The photo tagging option provides you with privacy choices regarding who can tag you on photos they upload on Twitter. You can either set it to followers only or public.

Step 6: Tap on the slider next to Protect your Tweets.

Profile protection has been activated and now your profile and all your tweets are protected and thus private from the Twitterverse, except your followers.

How to Change Privacy Settings on Twitter PC OR Mac

To change privacy settings on the Twitter website or desktop application on your PC or Mac, follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Hit up the Twitter website URL on your browser’s address bar or Google search it. Upon loading in, you should land on the Twitter Homepage.

Step 2: Click on the More tab to the left of your screen. This will open up a side-bar menu with a list of options namely, Help Centre, Display, Settings and Privacy so on. Akin to what we previously showcased in the Twitter mobile method, the “Settings and Privacy” option is our primary concern.

Step 3: Click on the Settings and Privacy option. This will open up a new page where you will see a lot of safety and security-related settings and metrics.

Step 4: Proceed to click on the Privacy and Safety setting. That will further open a new section containing all the customizable privacy-related options.

Step 5: Click on Audience and Tagging. That will display two options on your screen. “Protect your Tweets” and “Photo Tagging”. We’ve already gone over how to use the Photo Tagging option previously in the article, so refer to that to have a better understanding of how it works.

Step 6: Click on Protect your Tweets. You should be met with a prompt window that asks you to confirm your decision. Click Yes and you’re done.

As previously discussed, your profile and all your tweets are now protected and thus private from everyone except your followers.

What does Protected Tweets Mean?

When you sign up on Twitter for the first time, your profile and tweet privacy is set to Public by default.

However, if you feel the need to protect your tweets, i.e make them private and inaccessible to the public, you can do that through the steps we have previously discussed. Before you do that, you would want to note:

What happens when you protect tweets?

• You will start to receive a follow request notification everytime someone follows you. You can either approve or reject the follow request.
• Your tweet visibility is restricted to only your followers.
• Your followers will no longer be able to “retweet” any of your posts.
• Protected tweets will not appear in any search engine other than Twitter. They are only searchable by your followers and you.
• Replies or “Quote tweets” to any account that does not follow you, will not be seen by them.

Twitter Privacy Settings that May Interest you:

Protecting tweets is the most commonly implemented privacy option. However, if you want to further solidify the wall between your personal life and virtual identity on Twitter, you can check out these settings. Note that some settings also affect your experience on Twitter. Read on to understand how.

Change Sensitive Content Setting on Twitter

Twitter by default blocks NSFW media. It can get annoying when a slightly explicit picture or a news report is blocked due to the sensitive content setting. To disable it:

Click on More >> Settings and Privacy >> Privacy and Safety >> Content You See >> Enable the checkbox next to “Display media that may contain sensitive content”.

Now you will be able to view sensitive content on Twitter including NSFW explicit images, gifs and videos as you surf through your Twitter feed.

Moreover, you will also be getting explicit content on the Twitter Explore page. This, however, solely depends on your browsing habits(search habits, profiles you follow, posts you like etc).

Discoverability Settings

This setting deals with permission for your contacts to find you on Twitter through your registered phone number and email address. By default, it is set to allow. You can always revoke this by deselecting the checkboxes.

Data sharing and Off- Twitter Activity

Twitter personalizes your experience on the platform through telemetry obtained from various sources both on and off Twitter itself.

If you want to limit data tracking to ONLY on Twitter, you can do so by disabling “Allow use of where you see Twitter content across the Web” and “Personalize based on your inferred identity” checkboxes.

We also suggest that you disable the “Allow additional information sharing with business partners” checkbox. This restricts Twitter from sharing your personal browsing habits and data with their business partners. Thus, preserving your preferences.

If you want to delve even deeper into the privacy options on Twitter you can read their official Twitter Privacy Policy.

At the risk of sounding pseudo-philosophical, Twitter is a whirlpool of opinions, make sure that when you jump, you surf and not drown.

Protect yourself from controversies, seclude yourself from the crowd and enclose all you share with this Twitter privacy and safety walkthrough.

Topics covered:

• What is protected tweet and public tweet?
• How to protect your twitter account and make tweets private?
• How to enable sensitive content on Twitter?
• Data sharing on Twitter
• How to turn off data tracking and sharing on twitter?