How to Delete Anything from Twitter Including Your Account

Twitter has been around for over 15 years, and in that time, you may have tweeted through school, first or fifth jobs, personal life successes and failures and so much more. There are probably some tweets you would look back on now and be embarrassed by and may not want new coworkers to discover. No matter the reason, you can easily delete everything from a single tweet to your entire Twitter account.

Also read: How to Install Your Own Federated Twitter with Pleroma

How to Delete a Single Tweet

Using Twitter.com

1. Start by locating the tweet you wish to delete. You will be able to find it on your timeline, profile page or by clicking on the tweet itself so that it pulls up as a standalone.
2. Click on the three horizontal dots in the right corner of the tweet you wish to delete. It will pull up a drop-down menu.
3. When the menu appears, click the “delete” option at the top. A dialog box will confirm the tweet has been deleted so that you can cancel if you’ve clicked accidentally or click on “Delete” to confirm.

Twitter Mobile Apps (Android and iOS)

1. Locate the tweet you wish to delete and tap on it to pull it up as a standalone.
2. Tap the three vertical or horizontal dot icon in the upper-right corner.
3. Tap on the “Delete Tweet” option in the menu.

4. Confirm that you want to delete the tweet by tapping “Yes” in the dialog pop-up that appears.

Deleting All Tweets

While Twitter doesn’t offer a solution for mass tweet deletion, third-party apps come to the rescue. The best option for most people is a free service known as TwitLan. This service enables you to delete up to 3200 tweets or the same number as Twitter’s API allows third-party sites to view.

Once on the website, click on “Sign in to your Twitter account.” Pending your login, you will see a similar view as the image above. Select tweets individually or all at once and click on the giant red “Delete the Tweets Permanently” button.

If you want to go beyond the 3200 Twitter API limit, you can, but it comes with a small privacy cost.

Go to your account settings on Twitter by clicking the three-button icon on the left sidebar to download your tweet archive. Click on “Settings & privacy -> Download an archive of your data” and verify your password.

After your archive is available, a Twitter service like TweetDelete allows you to go beyond the 3200 tweet limit, assuming your full database has been uploaded. Whereas TwitLan is 100% free, TweetDelete does require a premium one-time fee of $14.99 to access your full database. If you opt for the premium account, there is a drop-down that allows you to select the age of the tweets you want to delete.

Alternatively, you can delete all tweets that only contain a word or phrase.

Note that the 3200 Twitter API limit is set up to only return your most recent 3200 tweets. You cannot get around it by using multiple sites, as each site will only be able to return the same set of results.

How to Delete a Retweet

When it comes to deleting a retweet, the same step works on desktops, Android, iOS, third-party apps, etc.

1. Look for the highlighted “retweet” button, which looks like two double arrows in a square.
2. When you click or tap on this button a second time, it will undo the retweet from your timeline.

Third-Party Option

As far as third-party options, consider this another recommendation for TwitLan. Aside from being free, it easily distinguishes between retweets and tweets as seen in the image above. Adding the “RT” in front of any tweet differentiates it as a retweet. It’s also one of the most basic tools to comfortably delete your history of retweets and doesn’t require any purchase.

How to Delete Twitter Direct Messages

It’s important to know that Direct Messages on Twitter are only removable on your end. The recipient(s) will still have the message available to them. That’s true for the entire conversation or any individual message in the DM. Ultimately, the best way to delete an entire conversation (on your end) is through the Twitter mobile app.

1. Inside your DMs on the Android or iOS Twitter app, tap and hold the conversation you wish to delete. Alternatively, you can also tap and hold a single message inside the full conversation.
2. As you tap and hold, a pop-up appears that includes “Delete conversation.” Tap on that and confirm it was deleted.
3. Alternatively, swipe left on any individual conversation in the “Messages” screen and tap on the trash can icon to delete the entire message (on your end).

How to Delete Twitter Search History

Using Twitter.com

1. Launch Twitter.com and click the search box at the top right of the page. Your recent search history will immediately pop up.
2. You have two options: delete individual searches by clicking on the “X” next to each search keyword or click on “Clear all” underneath the search bar for all your search histories to disappear. Note that this applies to anything that has been entered into the search bar: hashtags, keywords, usernames, etc.

3. Saved searches require you to scroll down until you hit the end of your recent search history. Deleting is pretty self explanatory, as the searches appear with a red trash can icon next to the name. Click on the trash icon, confirm you want to delete the entry, and it will be removed from your saved search history.

Using Mobile App

1. On the home page in the Twitter app, tap on the magnifying glass or search tab.
2. As is the case with the desktop, you have two options: delete individually or delete all of your history.
3. Your most recent searches will appear right below the search bar. You can swipe left on each name as a “Delete” box appears. Tap on it and remove the search.
4. To delete all of your history, look underneath the search box for a “X” icon and tap it. It will say “Clear.” When your tap on that, your search history is removed, including hashtags, keywords and usernames.

5. Saved searches will appear under your recent searches, so deleting is as easy as swiping left until the “Delete” box appears. Tap on Delete and the saved search will be removed.

How to Remove Likes From Twitter

Likes, or favorites as they still like to be called, are Twitter’s way of both showing that you like a tweet and bookmarking it for later.

Deleting One by One

The easiest, albeit most time-consuming, way to remove likes is to do it one by one. You can do it through Twitter.com on the desktop or any of the mobile apps. No matter the platform, you will go to the “Likes” section in Twitter, which can be found on your profile page. It’s on the option on the right underneath your profile. Start clicking on the “hearts” or “Likes” to un-like. Doing this one by one is too time-consuming, so a third-party method will save much time.

Third-Party Solution

TweetDeleter is a third-party option that can help you bulk unlike with the click of a button. For $4.99 monthly (billed annually), you can access and delete up to 1000 of your last Likes. Jump that up to $5.99 monthly, and you can delete the entirety of your Likes backlog. Unfortunately, there is no demo period, and the free version is quite limited. That said, in the world of third-party options for unliking previous tweets, TweetDeleter is our first choice.

TweetDelete, the same third party available to delete tweets in bulk can also remove up to 3,200 Likes for free. That’s 3,200 of your most recent Likes, so it’s based on age and not in totality. There is no charge to remove up to 3200. Know that premium users who pay a $14.99 one-time charge still do not have access to delete more than the standard account amount.

How to Delete Twitter Followers

Desktop

Using Twitter’s default method to remove or delete followers is very much a one-by-one action. That means it could be very time-consuming if you are removing followers in bulk.

1. Go to your profile page on Twitter.com and click on the number that represents how many followers you currently have.
2. As the list of followers appears, you will be able to click on the three dots next to the “follow” or “following” button.
3. Click on “Remove this follower” for each person you want to remove.

Mobile Apps

1. Use the same process as above on a mobile app by starting on your Twitter profile page and clicking on the number of followers you have.
2. You cannot unfollow on a mobile app. Instead, you have to tap and hold on to each follower and “block” them.

Admittedly, blocking and following are not the same thing. Someone you delete as a follower can still see your public Twitter page. On the other hand, blocking someone on mobile to delete them means they cannot see your public page whatsoever.

Third-party apps claim that you can bulk delete followers, but the reality is you don’t have much control over who follows you. Yes, you can set your page to private, but that still allows everyone who is currently following you to be grandfathered into your page.

How to Delete Uploaded Media From Twitter

When it comes to deleting uploaded media on Twitter, removing it is the same as deleting tweets. As any uploaded media is tied to a tweet, deleting it would follow the same steps as deleting a tweet, which was covered earlier in this article. You can delete through your profile page on Twitter.com, through the mobile app or through a third-party service like TweetDeleter.

Using TweetDeleter, you can filter tweets underneath “Tweet type” to locate only those with media attached. That would include a video, photo, or external link. You can also filter to just show tweets containing links to YouTube, Instagram, TikTok or other social platforms. Note that with TweetDeleter, you need to upload your Twitter archive to see more than 3,200 tweets.

How to Delete Location Information from Twitter

Even if you have already tweeted previous location information, Twitter allows you to remove all of this data.

1. On the left navigation menu, select the three button icon.
2. Click on “Settings & privacy -> Privacy and safety.”
3. Look for for the “Location information” option on “Data Sharing and off-Twitter activity.” Click on it to open the next menu.
4. Open the menu option for “Add location information to your Tweets.”
5. Click on “Remove all location information attached to your Tweets” and confirm you want to “Delete” on the pop-up that appears.

How to Delete Your Twitter Account

On Desktop

1. Assuming you are already logged in on Twitter.com, look for the “More” button (three dot icon0 on the left side.
2. Find “Settings & privacy” and look for “Deactivate your account” inside the “Your account” menu.
3. Inside this menu, you can now deactivate your account by verifying your password.

On Mobile

1. Open the Twitter app on your iPhone or Android device, tap on your profile picture, then “Settings and privacy.”
2. On the next screen, tap on “Account” and look to the bottom of the following screen for “Deactivate your account.’
3. Tap on “Deactivate” at the bottom, and very it by entering your password.

It’s important to note that deactivation is the first step toward deletion. If you do not access your Twitter account within the thirty-day deactivation period, your account will be deleted, and your username will no longer be associated with any account. There is no opportunity to reactivate after this thirty-day period has expired.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What happens to tweets I’m mentioned in if my account is deactivated or deleted?

Mentions of your username would still exist in someone else’s tweets, but there would be no link to your profile.

2. If I delete a tweet, can I recover it later?

This is a tricky one, as many websites claim you can find deleted tweets by downloading your Twitter archive. However, TweetDeleter does allow you to save and store in a private deleted tweet archive. Even as deleted tweets are removed from your public timeline, you can maintain this data inside TweetDeleter, assuming you pay their subscription fee of course.

Read on to learn how to delete anythng from Snapchat, including your account, deactivate or delete your Facebook account, and delete or deactivate your Instagram account.