How to Download Your Twitter Data, With Photos

Key Points

Technology companies track everything that you do when visiting their site or using their app. If you wish to download this data, that is an option.
You can download your Twitter data through the application on your mobile device.
Follow the instructions below to download your Twitter data in the settings and privacy menu.

Downloading data wasn’t an option on many apps in the last few years. Recently, in light of increasing concerns over data privacy and exploitation, the largest social media websites started allowing users to download private data files kept on their servers. Twitter offers that option too. Below, we show you five easy steps to download your data from Twitter.

What is “your data”?

Companies track nearly everything you do when you are using their websites. It could be anything from 20 minutes spent shopping online to using a social media app. Thousands of data points are monitored, each gathering data involving your use. The platform then uses this data to critique your experience (or alter the platform) while also selling your monitored preferences to other companies (ad agencies) looking to monetize your interests. Scary? You bet.

Thankfully, users are getting wise to this, and legislation has started being passed allowing users to access this data if they so desire. Often, these data files are massive, but users have access to them.

Twitter collects the following data:

Account and personal information (birthdays, location, etc.)
Account history (login and device history)
Apps and devices (browsers and devices used to log in, plus IP addresses
Muted and blocked accounts
Interests and ad response
A lot more

Steps to download your data from Twitter (on the app)

Step 1: Log in to Twitter

*Enter your email address/username and your password to access your Twitter account.*

Open the Twitter app on your smartphone and log into your account.

Step 2: Tap your profile icon

*Your profile section typically has an avatar and a cover pic.*

From the homepage of the Twitter app, select your profile icon at the top right corner.

Step 3: Tap settings and support

*Tap the settings and privacy option with the gear icon on the left.*

Once you tap your profile icon, scroll to the bottom of the side menu and look for a small dropdown labeled “Settings & Support.” Under that menu are two options.

Step 4: Tap your account

*You should see your settings menu with many options and a search bar near the top.*

You need to tap the option labeled “Your account”, the first menu on the list. This will open up a secondary menu that gives you access to your personal information, plus the option to deactivate your account.

Step 5: Select Download an archive of your data

*Tap the option labeled “Download an archive of your data”.*

You get a prompt to reenter your password before downloading the Twitter data.

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