Twitter Is Now X: What Changed and How It Works (2026)
Twitter is now X. Elon Musk announced the end of the Twitter brand on 23 July 2023, and on 17 May 2024 he posted that “All core systems are now on X.com”. Same service, same accounts, new names: tweets are posts, retweets are reposts, and Twitter Blue became X Premium.
Below, each change carries a date taken from X’s own posts and help pages, not from press coverage, and every section ends with links to a full guide for that task, from search to Chat to video.
Table of Contents
- Is Twitter X now? The short answer
- When did Twitter become X, and why?
- Old Twitter names and what X calls them now
- Searching and finding things on X
- Your account: username, privacy and history
- Messages on X: DMs, Chat and requests
- Checkmarks and paid tiers
- Groups, Lists and saving posts
- Posting on X: text, threads and video
- Where Threads and Bluesky fit
- What did not change when Twitter became X?
- FAQ
Is Twitter X now? The short answer
Yes. X is the name Twitter has carried since July 2023: the same app and the same accounts, with new names for most features. Saved twitter.com links still work, too. X has published no help article about the address change, but when we requested twitter.com addresses on 3 October 2026, each one redirected permanently to the same page on x.com, so an old twitter.com profile link opens that profile on x.com.
What changed is mostly vocabulary, pricing and a few retired features. The next two sections date the rename itself, then list each feature that changed, with the X page or post that records it.
When did Twitter become X, and why?
The rename took nearly ten months from first post to finished address change: Musk announced it on 23 July 2023 and posted on 17 May 2024 that the move to x.com was complete. Two days after the announcement he gave his reason: Twitter had been acquired by X Corp “as an accelerant for X, the everything app”, and the Twitter name made sense “when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth”.
Every row below comes from a post by X’s owner or its then-CEO, or from X’s company blog. Post dates are in UTC, as X records them.
| Date | What was said | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 23 July 2023 | Musk: “And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”. Later that day, then-CEO Linda Yaccarino: “X will do that and more.” | Checked against Post by Elon Musk (@elonmusk), owner of X; Checked against Post by Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX), then CEO of X |
| 25 July 2023 | Musk, explaining the rename: Twitter was acquired by X Corp “as an accelerant for X, the everything app” | Checked against Post by Elon Musk (@elonmusk), owner of X |
| 26 October 2023 | X’s blog post “One year in, the future of X is bright”: “We transformed Twitter into X, the everything app” | Checked against X Blog: One year in, the future of X is bright (26 October 2023)Archived copy, 21 September 2026 View the archived copy |
| 17 May 2024 | Musk: “All core systems are now on X.com” | Checked against Post by Elon Musk (@elonmusk), owner of X |
Yaccarino framed the rename as ambition: “For years, fans and critics alike have pushed Twitter to dream bigger, to innovate faster, and to fulfill our great potential.” Musk’s framing was that the product had outgrown a name built for short messages. And X’s October 2023 blog post described the everything app it was aiming for as one “where everyone is increasingly connected to everything they care about”. Checked against X Blog: One year in, the future of X is bright (26 October 2023)Archived copy, 21 September 2026 View the archived copy
Old Twitter names and what X calls them now
Most Twitter features survived under new names, while a few were retired or moved behind X Premium. Each row names the X page or post that records the change. Where X never dated a change, the row says so rather than borrowing a date from press coverage, which is why five of the eight rows carry no date, DMs and TweetDeck among them.
| On Twitter | On X now | When, per X | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tweet | Post: “up to 280 characters”, with photos, GIFs, videos and text | Not dated by X | Checked against X Help Center: Glossary |
| Retweet (RT) | Repost: “A post that you forward to your followers” | Not dated by X | Checked against X Help Center: Glossary |
| Twitter Blue | X Premium, in three tiers: Basic, Premium and Premium+ | Not dated by X | Checked against X Help Center: About X Premium |
| Legacy verification for active, notable and authentic accounts | Blue check for Premium and Premium+ subscribers who meet X’s requirements | Wind-down began 1 April 2023, before the rename | Checked against X Help Center: About X Blue CheckmarkArchived copy, 21 September 2026 View the archived copy; Checked against X Help Center: About profile labels and checkmarks on XArchived copy, 1 October 2026 View the archived copy |
| Direct Messages (DMs) | Chat, encrypted end to end with a key protected by a 4-digit PIN | Not dated by X | Checked against X Help Center: About Chat |
| TweetDeck | X Pro, listed “Only for Premium+ Tier” | Not dated by X | Checked against X Help Center: About X Premium |
| Public likes | Private likes: you still see posts you liked, others can’t | Announced 11 June 2024 | Checked against Post by X Engineering (@Engineering), X's official engineering account (11 June 2024) |
| Communities | Communities asked to move to XChat group chats | Deadline of 30 May 2026 set in April 2026; X’s help pages have not confirmed a shutdown | Checked against Post by Nikita Bier (@nikitabier), Head of Product at X; Checked against X Help Center: Communities on XShutdown not confirmed by X |
Three notes on reading it. X’s glossary defines post and Repost without mentioning tweet or retweet, so the first two rows rest on common usage, not on an X statement. Checked against X Help Center: Glossary X’s help pages simply call the multi-column app X Pro, and none of them dates its rename from TweetDeck. Checked against X Help Center: How to use X ProNot documented by X The old address still leads there, though: when we requested tweetdeck.twitter.com on 3 October 2026, it redirected to pro.twitter.com. And the verification change began under the Twitter name, nearly four months before the rebrand.
For the wider vocabulary across networks, see the social media glossary.
Searching and finding things on X
You search X from the Explore tab in the apps or the search box on x.com, then filter results by Top, Latest, People, Photos or Videos. Checked against X Help Center: How to use X searchArchived copy, 30 June 2026 View the archived copy On x.com there is also Advanced search, a form that narrows results by words, accounts, places and dates. Checked against X Help Center: How to use advanced searchArchived copy, 18 September 2026 View the archived copy
What can be found depends on visibility. Protected posts are searchable on X only by you and your followers, and they don’t appear in search engines such as Google. Checked against X Help Center: About public and protected PostsArchived copy, 19 September 2026 View the archived copy
- Twitter search: how to use X advanced search, including the search operators X documents
- Twitter SEO: how to get found on X and on Google
Your account: username, privacy and history
Three settings shape your account: your @username, whether your posts are public, and the activity X keeps for you to see. Your username (your handle) is unique, appears in your profile URL and can be used to log in; your display name is separate and doesn’t have to be unique. Checked against X Help Center: How to change your X usernameArchived copy, 4 July 2026 View the archived copy If you change the username, the old one becomes available to anyone straight away. Checked against X Help Center: How to change your X usernameArchived copy, 4 July 2026 View the archived copy
Posts are public by default and visible to anyone, with or without an X account. Protected posts are visible only to your followers, and new followers need your approval. Checked against X Help Center: About public and protected PostsArchived copy, 19 September 2026 View the archived copy
X’s Help Center documents no watch or viewing history. Checked against X Help Center: How to access your X data (lists what X shows you about your account)Not documented by X Your likes, on the other hand, have been private since June 2024: you can still see the posts you liked, and others can’t.
- How to change your username on Twitter (X)
- How to make your Twitter (X) account public
- Does X have a watch history? What X keeps instead, for your own activity
Messages on X: DMs, Chat and requests
X now calls its private messaging Chat, and Chat encrypts messages, links, media and reactions end to end with a key protected by a 4-digit PIN. Metadata such as who you messaged and when is not encrypted, messages go unencrypted if the recipient hasn’t set up Chat, and content you share with Grok is no longer encrypted. Checked against X Help Center: About Chat
Messages from people you don’t follow land in Requests, where you accept or delete them; the sender can’t tell you’ve seen a request until you accept it. Checked against X Help Center: About Direct MessagesArchived copy, 6 September 2026 View the archived copy X also limits how many message requests you can send in 24 hours, by tier: 7 on a free account, 35 on Premium, 75 on Premium+ and 500 on Premium Business. Checked against X Help Center: About Chat
- How to DM on Twitter (X): sending a message, requests and who can reach you
Checkmarks and paid tiers
A blue checkmark now means the account has an active Premium or Premium+ subscription and meets X’s eligibility requirements; it no longer marks an account as notable. Checked against X Help Center: About profile labels and checkmarks on XArchived copy, 1 October 2026 View the archived copy It also doesn’t mean X has checked anyone’s ID: ID verification is a separate Premium option with its own “ID verified” label. Checked against X Help Center: About X Blue CheckmarkArchived copy, 21 September 2026 View the archived copy
X Premium has three tiers. Basic adds features such as editing posts, longer posts and bookmark folders, but no checkmark; Premium adds the checkmark, reduced ads and ID verification; Premium+ adds SuperGrok and X Pro, among others. Checked against X Help Center: About X Premium X Pro, the app once called TweetDeck, shows several timelines side by side as columns and can manage more than one X account. Checked against X Help Center: How to use X Pro The full feature list is on X’s About X Premium page, which notes that not every feature is available on every platform or in every location.
The wording also differs by region. In the EEA, X has stopped calling blue-check users “verified” and calls them “Premium” users instead, after a European Commission decision that X says it is appealing. Checked against X Help Center: About X Blue CheckmarkArchived copy, 21 September 2026 View the archived copy
- How to get verified on Twitter (X)
- X Premium: tiers, prices and what you get
- TweetDeck is now X Pro: what changed
Groups, Lists and saving posts
X gives you three ways to organise accounts and posts: Lists, Bookmarks and Communities, and Communities are the one in doubt. A List is a custom timeline of posts from only the accounts on it, and you can pin favourites next to your For You and Following timelines. Checked against X Help Center: How to use X ListsArchived copy, 17 September 2026 View the archived copy Bookmarks are private: only you can see which posts you’ve saved. Checked against X Help Center: About BookmarksArchived copy, 4 September 2026 View the archived copy
On 22 April 2026, X’s head of product Nikita Bier announced joinable XChat group-chat links as a way to organise communities on X. Checked against Post by Nikita Bier (@nikitabier), Head of Product at X The next day he wrote: “You’ll have until May 30th to transition to XChat.” But X’s Communities help article was still published without a retirement notice in July 2026, and its Premium page still listed “Create a Community” on 3 October 2026, so whether Communities were switched off is not confirmed. Checked against X Help Center: Communities on XShutdown not confirmed by X
- Twitter Lists: how to create and use Lists on X
- Twitter bookmarks: how to save and find posts on X
- X Communities: what X announced and what its help pages still say
Posting on X: text, threads and video
A standard post holds up to 280 characters and “may contain photos, GIFs, videos, and text”, in the words of X’s glossary. Checked against X Help Center: Glossary A thread is a series of connected posts from one person, used to add context, an update or a longer point. Checked against X Help Center: How to create a thread on XArchived copy, 4 September 2026 View the archived copy To tag someone, type @ before their username; everyone you mention sees the post in their Notifications tab. Checked against X Help Center: About replies and mentionsArchived copy, 18 September 2026 View the archived copy
Premium changes the limits, and X’s own pages disagree on how far. The Premium pages say subscribers can post up to 25,000 characters, while X’s How to Post page still says longer posts go up to 4,000. Checked against X Help Center: X Premium how to Video is similar: without Premium you can upload videos up to 140 seconds and 512 MB, and Premium allows far longer uploads, with X’s video page and Premium page giving different maximums. Checked against X Help Center: How to share and watch videos on X
A post’s view count shows the total number of times it has been viewed. Checked against X Help Center: View countsArchived copy, 1 October 2026 View the archived copy Impressions, engagements and engagement rate for each post sit in X’s Post Activity Dashboard. Checked against X Business: Post and Video Activity Dashboards
- How to make a Twitter thread
- How to upload a video on Twitter (X)
- How to tag someone on X, with mentions and photo tags
- What are impressions on X?
- Twitter marketing: an X strategy for brands
- How to schedule tweets from x.com or X Pro, and how to schedule social media posts across nine platforms
- The best time to post on X, by day and hour
Where Threads and Bluesky fit
Threads and Bluesky are the two other text-first networks this guide covers, and each documents a different post limit: Threads 500 characters, Bluesky 300 and X 280 for accounts without Premium. Threads: Checked against Meta for Developers: Threads API overview (limits) Bluesky: Checked against AT Protocol lexicon app.bsky.feed.post (Bluesky GitHub) X: Checked against X Help Center: Glossary Since September 2025, Meta has also been rolling out text attachments of up to 10,000 characters on Threads posts. Checked against About Meta newsroom: Attach Text to Threads Posts
Meta announced on 16 June 2026 that Threads had reached 500 million monthly active users. Checked against About Meta newsroom: New Features to Celebrate 500 Million Monthly Users on Threads Bluesky describes itself as a social app designed not to be controlled by a single company, built on the AT Protocol. Checked against Bluesky Help Center (Zendesk): What is Bluesky? Openness differs too. Bluesky’s protocol is designed so accounts can move between servers. Checked against AT Protocol docs: Protocol Overview Threads connects to the ActivityPub fediverse as an opt-in beta that isn’t available in the European Region. Checked against Instagram Help Center (Threads): Turn on sharing to the fediverse on Threads X documents no open-protocol link of its own.
- Threads vs Twitter (X): an honest, side-by-side comparison
- Bluesky vs Twitter (X): the key differences
- What is Bluesky? How the network works
- Bluesky search: finding people and posts
- How to use Threads: a beginner’s guide
- Threads search: finding posts and people
- What is Threads? Meta’s text app, explained
What did not change when Twitter became X?
Two basics carried over from Twitter: a post is still limited to 280 characters for accounts without Premium, and posts are still public unless you protect them. X’s glossary defines a post as “up to 280 characters”, and its privacy help describes public posts as “the default setting”.
Check a draft against that limit with the Twitter character counter before you post.
If you post to X with Outfeed
Schedule text posts to X with Outfeed AI
FAQ
What is Twitter called now?
Twitter is now called X, and its address is x.com. Elon Musk announced the end of the Twitter brand on 23 July 2023. X’s help pages say “post” and “Repost” where Twitter said tweet and retweet, and the paid subscription once called Twitter Blue is now X Premium, with three tiers: Basic, Premium and Premium+.
When did Twitter become X?
Elon Musk announced it on 23 July 2023, posting that “soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”. The move to the new address finished on 17 May 2024, when he posted that “All core systems are now on X.com”. X’s help pages give no dates for the smaller renames, such as tweet to post.
Why did Twitter change its name to X?
Elon Musk said on 25 July 2023 that Twitter was acquired by X Corp “as an accelerant for X, the everything app”, and that the Twitter name made sense “when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth”. In October 2023, X’s company blog described the change as “We transformed Twitter into X, the everything app”.
Are tweets still called tweets?
Not by X. Its help glossary defines a post as up to 280 characters that “may contain photos, GIFs, videos, and text”, and calls a post you forward to your followers a Repost. Plenty of people still say tweet and retweet, but X’s own help pages say post and Repost.
Does twitter.com still work, or is it x.com now?
X’s address is x.com. Elon Musk posted on 17 May 2024 that “All core systems are now on X.com”. Old twitter.com links still work as redirects: when we requested twitter.com addresses on 3 October 2026, each one forwarded to the same page on x.com. X has not published a help article about the switch.