How to download a backup copy of your Twitter data (or deactivate your account)

Huge modifications are underway at Twitter as we converse—together with new leadership—and a few individuals are nervous about what the longer term would possibly deliver for the social community. Issues might find yourself fully advantageous, however even in tranquil occasions, it is good to know how one can get a duplicate of your Twitter knowledge for native safekeeping—or to deactivate your Twitter account if you happen to select. This places management of your knowledge in your palms.

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

Additionally, you may want an e-mail deal with or cell phone quantity registered to your Twitter account so the positioning can ship you a particular affirmation code to finish the method. After you have the information, you may get a neighborhood copy of your entire tweets which you can retailer indefinitely without having to log in to Twitter.

The right way to request your Twitter knowledge on desktop or cell

To get a duplicate 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.

When 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.”

Below “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 deal with or a cell phone quantity via a textual content message, relying on what you select.

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

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

When the archive is prepared, you may get a notification through 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’ll be able to open “Your archive.html” in an ordinary internet browser and look via your Twitter knowledge regionally, which is now hosted in your laptop in that folder.

The Twitter account knowledge you’ll be able to obtain arrives as a ZIP file, viewable in a neighborhood internet browser on a PC or Mac, which incorporates your tweets and direct messages, account data and historical past, apps and gadgets you have used, accounts you have blocked or muted, and promoting profile info.

A notice 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 particular person within the chat doesn’t delete them. So even if you happen to delete your DM historical past with an individual, the opposite particular person you chatted with will nonetheless have a duplicate 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) ceaselessly. So in case you have delicate DMs you’d wish to erase, ask the opposite celebration to delete their DM chat historical past with you as effectively.

The right way to deactivate your Twitter account

When 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 may see a number of disclaimers about how deactivation works, however they don’t seem to be clear about deletion. Consulting Twitter’s support pages reveals extra element concerning 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.

When you’re prepared, click on “Deactivate.”

Even after clicking “Deactivate,” you may 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. When you change your thoughts, log in once more inside 30 days and your account will reactivate. However if you happen to do not log in once more inside 30 days, your account can be deleted ceaselessly.