Can you delete all tweets on Twitter?

Twitter can be a virtual snark den populated by trolls, spambots, and scammers. And now it's got a controversial new owner in the form of Elon Musk. How a Twitter under Musk’s control shakes out remains to be seen. But if you're ready to move on, you can delete your entire account or just clean up any unfortunate tweets from the past.

How Do I Delete My Tweets?

You've posted a tweet that you feel has come back to bite you or might in the future (politicians, pay attention!), so you want to remove it. You can directly delete a fresh or easy-to-find tweet (or edit it, if you have Twitter Blue). But what about older tweets that may not be so simple to locate? And what if you want to easily and quickly delete multiple tweets? No worries. With the right tool, you can go back in time and erase your more ill-advised musings.

Of course, deleting an older tweet doesn't undo all the damage. People have already read and possibly reacted to your tweet. (Screenshots are forever.) But you still may want to kick out the tweet for the sake of permanence and posterity. Here's what you need to know.

Delete a Single Tweet on Twitter.com

Deleting a recent tweet isn't difficult. On Twitter.com, select the option for Profile. Scroll down until you find the tweet you want to remove. Click the three-dot menu next to that tweet and select the option for Delete. Twitter asks if you're sure you want to delete the tweet. Click Delete. The tweet vanishes.

I've been working for PCMag since early 2016 writing tutorials, how-to pieces, and other articles on consumer technology. Beyond PCMag, I've written news stories and tutorials for a variety of other websites and publications, including CNET, ZDNet, TechRepublic, Macworld, Popular Science, Time, Fortune, US News & World Report, and AARP Magazine. I spent seven years writing breaking news for CNET as one of the site’s East Coast reporters. I've also written two books for Wiley & Sons—Windows 8: Five Minutes at a Time and Teach Yourself Visually LinkedIn.

Are you ready for a fresh start on Twitter? There are a number of reputable online services that allow you to bulk delete all of your past tweets so you can start with a blank slate.

Here's a look at how to get rid of all your tweets...

Why Would You Bulk Delete Your Tweets?

There are plenty of legitimate reasons for wanting to wipe the slate clean on Twitter without resorting to deleting your entire Twitter account.

You might want to avoid old, embarrassing tweets being discovered in the future. After all, we can't yet enjoy the benefits of editing old tweets. Or maybe you're working on re-branding yourself on social media. Maybe you want to use an old Twitter account for a different purpose. Or perhaps you just want to distance yourself from Twitter in general.

Whatever your reason, we'll walk you through how to delete every one of your tweets.

Disclaimer: Although we've tested each of the apps mentioned in this article, granting any of them access to your Twitter account is done at your own risk.

How Many Tweets Does Twitter Store?

It's often believed that you can only access your most recent 3,200 tweets, but this isn’t entirely true. In fact, Twitter limits the number of tweets that appear on your timeline to just 800, while your Tweets & replies tab will display your most recent 3200 Tweets and replies. This doesn't mean that older tweets no longer exist.

Every single one of your tweets are searchable via Twitter's search console, unless they have specifically been deleted. With that in mind, you should at least consider deleting all of your old tweets.

Back Up Your Old Tweets First (Optional)

Remember: Once you delete your tweets, there's no going back. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. So, if you have any worries that you might regret the decision, Twitter does allow you to download your entire Twitter archive. This ZIP file contains every tweet and retweet you have ever sent (apart from those you've deleted), so you can store this wherever you like for posterity.

To download your Twitter archive:

1. Sign in and go to your profile.
2. In the left-hand menu click More, then click Settings and privacy.
3. In Your Account click Download an Archive of Your Data
4. You'll receive an in-app notification when your archive is ready to download.

1. TweetDelete

TweetDelete is one of the most popular services for managing your Tweets. With it, you have the option to bulk delete past tweets and automatically delete future tweets after they've been live for a certain amount of time.

On the free account, TweetDelete can remove up to 3,200 tweets without needing you to upload your Twitter archive. You can also remove up to 3,200 of your most recent likes on Twitter.

If you want to delete more than 3,200 tweets, you'll have to upgrade to the premium version, and upload your archive as a zip file. TweetDelete then works through this file to delete every one of your tweets.

For anyone with less than 3,200 tweets, TweetDelete is likely your best option as it's so simple. You can wipe your timeline clean, and choose to have future tweets automatically deleted after:

• One week
• Two weeks
• One month
• Two months
• Three months
• Six months
• One year

The script generally runs every couple of days, locating new tweets that have entered the date period you set, and deleting these automatically. Once deleted there is no way of retrieving them.

If you want TweetDelete to stop deleting your new tweets, you can revoke its access to your Twitter account by going to Security and account access, clicking Apps and sessions, then Connected apps. Click on TweetDelete.net, then click Revoke app permissions.

2. TweetEraser

As with TweetDelete, TweetEraser allows you to delete up to 3,200 tweets free of charge. However, it's recommended that you upload your Twitter archive to do this, making TweetEraser a little more work.

If you're willing to cough up the small fee for 30-day access to TweetEraser's main service, you can delete as many tweets as you like (for multiple Twitter accounts).

Once you've signed up to TweetEraser, go to Tweets and upload your entire Twitter archive.

You can then use search filters to find the tweets you want to delete (based on date, hashtags, and keywords), or you can just select all of your tweets if you're going all in. When you're ready, click Delete Tweets, confirm your decision, and TweetEraser will start to work its magic (it can be a little slow, but stay patient).

3. TweetDeleter

Another reliable option is TweetDeleter. This is a premium option that'll require you to pay monthly, but before rejecting it outright, hear us out. TweetDeleter does have some interesting features you might be willing to paying for. The free version is enough to take a look around, but you'll need to upgrade if you need the app to actually be useful.

With a premium account, you can use advanced search features to bulk delete tweets that meet certain criteria. You can set up automated processes to delete tweets, or unlike posts, after a certain amount of time. You can of course delete all of your tweets en masse. And (for another fee), you can see a record of which tweets were deleted.

4. Twitter's Recommended Option

Twitter only allows you to delete one Tweet at a time. This is fine if you only have a few tweets, but if you've tweeted thousands of times, you need a different solution that still allows you to keep your username. Here's what Twitter proposes (though we do not recommend this method):

1. Sign up for a completely new Twitter account with a temporary username.
2. Switch the username from your old account to your new account.

The problem? The new account which now has your old username may have zero Tweets, but it also has zero followers! Your old account with a new username, retains all of your old followers, and your original tweets are still public! You'd then have to delete your old Twitter account to remove those tweets. Not quite the solution we were hoping for.

What Happens to Deleted Tweets?

When you bulk delete tweets, the changes can take a while to display on your feed. This is because there is a limit to the number of requests each of these apps can send to Twitter per hour. If you’re deleting several thousands of tweets, this can therefore take a while. It sure beats doing it manually, though.

When it comes to deleting tweets, according to Twitter:

• When you delete a Tweet, it is removed from your account, the timeline of any accounts that follow you, and from Twitter search results on twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, and Twitter for Android.
• Retweets of the deleted Tweet will also be removed on twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, and Twitter for Android.
• Once a Tweet has been deleted, the Tweet contents, associated metadata, and all analytical information about that Tweet are no longer publicly available on Twitter.
• If other people have copied and pasted part or all of your text into their own Tweet, their Tweets will not be removed.
• If other people have Retweeted your Tweet with a comment of their own, their Tweets will not be removed.
• Tweets may be cached or cross-posted on third-party websites, applications, or search engines. We cannot remove Tweets that are not on twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, or Twitter for Android.

Keeping Your Twitter Account Clean

Once you’ve cleaned up your tweets, it’s a good idea to keep it that way. You could either do this by only posting tweets you're sure you don't mind being online for a long time.

Or, if you don't want to be so cautious about what you post, simply choose to automatically delete tweets after a certain amount of time, which all of the services mentioned in this article can do for you.

Cleaning Up Your Twitter Account

By deleting many, if not all, of your past tweets, you stop them from being searchable to the general public, potential employers, and nosey journalists. That being said, always remember that nothing on the web is ever entirely deleted, because copies of old versions of sites and profiles are stored elsewhere (for better or worse).

Twitter will still have a record of these deleted tweets in case they need to produce them for legal purposes. But at least they're away from prying eyes, and you'll know that less of your data is "out there", easily accessible public domain.

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How do I delete more than 3200 tweets?