You can now view your Twitter timeline in reverse chronological order on iOS.
Twitter has been testing the feature, which lets you see the newest tweets first, for the past couple of months. Now it is being rolled out to all — starting with those on iOS.
If you’re a long-time Twitter user, you may remember that the micro-blogging platform once displayed tweets in a reverse chronological order by default. It worked perfectly well.
But around four years ago, in an effort to increase engagement, Twitter adopted an algorithmic timeline and made that the default instead. This presents users with the tweets it believes they will be most interested in first — even if they’re days old.
It seems not many prefer the algorithmic timeline, which makes it easy to miss more recent updates that might be more relevant. Now Twitter has finally recognized that.
How to view your Twitter timeline in chronological order
Starting today, iOS users will see a new button inside the Twitter app that lets them switch between different timeline views. “Latest” displays tweets in a reverse chronological order, like the good old times, and “Home” displays “top tweets” algorithmically.
The short clip below shows you how it works, and how quickly you can switch between the two views on iPhone and iPad.
New on iOS! Starting today, you can tap ✨ to switch between the latest and top Tweets in your timeline. Coming soon to Android. pic.twitter.com/6B9OQG391S
— Twitter (@Twitter) December 18, 2018
“Home” will remain the default view inside the Twitter app, so you’ll need to keep switching to “Latest” if you prefer this option. However, Twitter says it will monitor your behavior, and if it recognizes that you always use the “Latest” view, it will make that your default eventually. It’s unclear how long this takes.
Update the Twitter app today
You’ll need to update to the latest Twitter release on iOS — version 7.38 — to take advantage of this feature. Android users won’t see the change just yet, but Twitter says it is “coming soon.”
