How you can obtain a backup copy of your Twitter knowledge (or deactivate your account)

Huge adjustments are underway at Twitter as we communicate—together with new leadership—and a few individuals are nervous about what the longer term would possibly convey for the social community. Issues might find yourself fully positive, however even in tranquil instances, it is good to know find out how to get a replica of your Twitter knowledge for native safekeeping—or to deactivate your Twitter account for those who select. This places management of your knowledge in your fingers.

Earlier than we begin, it is essential to know that the method of getting a replica of your Twitter knowledge can take 24 hours or extra. Twitter does this each for security causes and ostensibly to provide its servers time to assemble the detailed knowledge it’s going to ship you.

Additionally, you will want an e-mail handle or cell phone quantity registered to your Twitter account so the location can ship you a particular affirmation code to finish the method. Upon getting the information, you will get an area copy of your whole tweets which you can retailer indefinitely while not having to log in to Twitter.

How you can request your Twitter knowledge on desktop or cell

To get a replica of your Twitter knowledge, you first want to finish a request course of. To get began, log in to Twitter.com or open the Twitter app utilizing the account for which you’d wish to request an archive.

In the event you’re on the Twitter web site, click on “Extra” within the sidebar, then click on “Settings and Assist.” On the cell Twitter app, simply faucet “Settings and Assist” within the sidebar. When that menu expands, click on or faucet “Settings and Privateness.”

Underneath “Settings,” choose “Your account,” then click on or faucet “Obtain an archive of your knowledge.”

After verifying your password, Twitter will ship a verification code to both your e-mail handle or a cell phone quantity via a textual content message, relying on what you select.

After you get the code, kind it into Twitter, and you will be again on the “Obtain an archive of your knowledge” web page. Underneath “Twitter knowledge,” click on the “Request archive” button.

Twitter will start making ready your archive, which might take 24 hours or extra to finish.

When the archive is prepared, you will get a notification by way of e-mail and/or a pop-up notification within the Twitter app. On the Twitter web site or within the app, navigate to “Settings and privateness” > “Your account” > “Obtain an archive of your knowledge” to obtain the ZIP file that accommodates your knowledge.

What’s within the Twitter knowledge you get?

As soon as you have downloaded the ZIP file, extract it right into a folder on a PC, Mac, or Linux. In that folder, you may open “Your archive.html” in a normal internet browser and look via your Twitter knowledge domestically, which is now hosted in your pc in that folder.

The Twitter account knowledge you may obtain arrives as a ZIP file, viewable in an area internet browser on a PC or Mac, which incorporates your tweets and direct messages, account information and historical past, apps and gadgets you have used, accounts you have blocked or muted, and promoting profile data.

A be aware about direct messages

From our experimentation, we have observed that Twitter direct messages (DMs) can be retained in Twitter’s servers so long as one individual within the chat doesn’t delete them. So even for those who delete your DM historical past with an individual, the opposite individual you chatted with will nonetheless have a replica of your shared DM historical past. But when each folks within the DM chat delete the direct message dialog, it disappears out of your Twitter archive (and sure from Twitter’s servers) without end. So when you’ve got delicate DMs you’d wish to erase, ask the opposite social gathering to delete their DM chat historical past with you as effectively.

How you can deactivate your Twitter account

In the event you’ve already downloaded your Twitter knowledge and really feel such as you’re able to take the extra dramatic step of deactivating or deleting your account, then log in to Twitter.com or open the Twitter app utilizing the account you’d wish to deactivate.

Utilizing the sidebar, navigate to “Settings and privateness” > “Your account” > “Deactivate your account.” On that web page, you will see a couple of disclaimers about how deactivation works, however they are not clear about deletion. Consulting Twitter’s support pages reveals extra element in regards to the course of: Deactivation might be reversed for as much as 30 days. After that, your Twitter account and all related knowledge can be completely deleted.

In the event you’re prepared, click on “Deactivate.”

Even after clicking “Deactivate,” you will have to enter your Twitter password and undergo one other affirmation immediate.

When full, your Twitter account will deactivate, and your tweets will disappear from the web site inside a couple of minutes. In the event you change your thoughts, log in once more inside 30 days and your account will reactivate. However for those who do not log in once more inside 30 days, your account can be deleted without end.