Twitter's gone through a lot of changes following its change of ownership. This makes now, perhaps more than ever, the best time to find out what information the platform has about you.

Whether you’re thinking of leaving Twitter or just curious about what the social network has collected on you, the platform does allow you to download a copy of your data.

You can download a copy of your data on the Twitter website as well as on its mobile app. This tutorial will cover how to download your data on both platforms.

How to Download Your Twitter Data on Mobile

The process for downloading your Twitter data on the platform's app is pretty simple.

Just follow these steps:

  1. Sign into your Twitter account on your mobile phone.
  2. Swipe to the right or tap on the navigation menu.
  3. Tap on Settings and support > Settings and Privacy.
  4. Select Account.
  5. Tap on Your Twitter Data.
  6. Under Data and Permissions, select Request Archive.

You’ll be asked to confirm your password. After confirming your password, tap the Request archive button.

It takes a while (sometimes 24 hours or longer) for the data to be prepared. But not to worry, you’ll get an in-app notification when it's ready to download. If you’ve verified your email, you’ll also receive a mail with a link to download your Twitter archive.

How to Download Your Twitter Data on the Web

Twitter screenshot-1

The process for downloading your data through the Twitter website is the same as the app, but with a slightly different UI.

Follow these steps to request your data:

  1. Log into your Twitter account on your browser.
  2. Click More on the navigation menu to the left of your feed.
  3. Choose the Settings and privacy option.
  4. Select the Your Account tab on the left if it's not already highlighted.
  5. Click on Settings and support > Settings and Privacy.
  6. Click on Request Archive.

Wait until your data is ready to download. You will receive a notification (and an email) when it's done.

Getting the Actual Twitter Data File

twitter data archive

So what does this data package include?

Just about everything you’d expect. Your data archive will include your profile information, Tweets; Direct Messages; Moments; images, videos, and GIFs you’ve uploaded; a list of your followers and accounts you’re following; your address book; lists you've created, follow, or are a member of; and your interests and ads data.

As soon as Twitter is done processing your data, it will send you a notification. Clicking on this notification leads to your Privacy page. On your Privacy page, click on the download archive. There you’ll find your download-ready data file.

Your data will be presented to you in ZIP format. Open the file and click on Your archive.html to see all that Twitter knows about you. The file opens as a webpage, like the one displayed in the image above. You can access the file even if you're offline.

Should You Be Concerned About What Twitter Knows About You?

It’s true that Twitter stores a lot of data on you and other users. The platform collects your personal information and every tweet, conversation, and post.

At the end of the day, Twitter’s data collection practices are really no different than any other social network. But if you’re still worried about what Twitter knows about you, there's always the option of downloading your data and seeing for yourself.

One data point you may be concerned about is the location information that Twitter gathers about you. If you're worried about this, you can remove the location tags from past tweets to secure your privacy.

Understand What Social Media Companies Know About You

Getting a copy of your data helps give you insight into just how much information social media companies gather about you. ​​They can also serve a practical purpose if you want to transfer the data or back it up.

By following these steps outlined above you should now know how to easily and securely download all of your Twitter data into one convenient file format so that you can review it whenever you please.