Twitter's popularity means that you'll find everyone from business executives to entertainers on the platform. And while it's great for following your favorite personalities or catching up on news, not everyone wants to make a Twitter account just to check a few tweets.

Unfortunately, in mid-2023, Twitter added further restrictions on what you can do without signing in. Let's see what you're able to do on Twitter without an account, as well as what's impossible without signing in.

Can You View Twitter Without an Account?

You can use some parts of Twitter without an account, but certain functions won't work unless you sign in, including:

• Following accounts to create a timeline
• Sending your own tweets
• Replying to, liking, and retweeting tweets
• Searching Twitter
• Using the Media and Likes tabs to filter the tweets on someone's profile

You'll be asked to sign into an account if you try to do any of these.

Twitter once had a feature that let you subscribe to tweets via SMS. Since this is no longer available, it's not a viable way to use Twitter without logging in.

Also, without an account, you can't use the Twitter app for Android or iPhone—the app asks you to sign in as soon as you open it. However, you can utilize most of the below tips on your phone by using a mobile browser instead. Just open Twitter in Chrome, Safari, or another browser—use an incognito window if you're already signed in.

Browse Twitter's Explore Page Without an Account

If you visit the Twitter homepage, you'll be asked to make an account immediately. Thus, when you use Twitter without an account, you can only start on the Twitter Explore page. This is a simple list of tweets that seemingly have nothing in common, besides having high engagement. In our experience, after a few tweets, these stop or repeat, so there's not much here.

Click a tweet to see its replies, or click the account that tweeted it to see more from them. You can click the Share button to easily send a tweet to a friend, but the other options are off-limits without an account. You can use the Settings panel on the left side to change a few data privacy options.

If you just want to use Twitter to see a few top tweets, this is an easy way to do so without an account. But it doesn't let you choose what kinds of topics you want to read about on the site.

Third-Party Sites Show Twitter Trends Without an Account

If you'd rather use Twitter to quickly check trending topics, there are tools that show what's trending by collecting the biggest hashtags of the moment. These don't require an account either.

Give these sites a try if this sounds like something you'd like:

• Trends24: With a simple, hourly updated list of the top trending topics, Trends24 lets you see what's been hot on Twitter over the past 24 hours. Highlight one to see how it's changed in popularity over the hours, or click it to see more information. If you try to view the trend on Twitter, you'll have to make an account. Use the dropdown at the top to filter by country; the default view is worldwide.
• GetDayTrends: Here, you can check the top trending topics and hashtags from the past day; click to see how they've changed over time or in various regions. There's also a date selector at the top of the list that you can use to check past data. And in addition to the top hashtags on the right side, you'll see the hashtags that have been trending for the longest time.

Search Twitter Without Logging In

Unfortunately, the mid-2023 changes locked the Twitter search bar (including the powerful Advanced Search) behind an account. The only way you can use the search bar without logging in is to find accounts.

As you type, you'll see a list of accounts that match your query. If you click a hashtag or topic, you'll see a prompt to sign in, but jumping to an account does work.

In this way, Twitter lets you read anyone's tweets without an account. Keep in mind that you can't see content from private profiles, though. Without your own account, you aren't able to request to follow them.

To keep up with the accounts you care about, you can bookmark their page in your browser to easily check in the future. In case you prefer RSS, you can use RSS.app to create a feed from a Twitter page.

If you're looking for something more specific on Twitter, the best way around this limitation is to use the site: modifier on Google as a workaround. If you're not familiar with this, it's one of the many ways to get better results from Google.

Include site:twitter.com in your Google search, and it will only show results from Twitter. You can find a particular account, see what people are discussing on a topic, or whatever else you can think of.

Follow Twitter Lists for Many Accounts in One

You aren't limited to keeping up with individual accounts on Twitter. Twitter Lists are collections of multiple accounts, allowing you to scroll through tweets from many people all in one place. And these still work even if you aren't logged in.

They'll help you keep tabs on Twitter communities that line up with your interests. For example, the @Verified account has a Twitter list of Olympians.

Without an account, you can only follow public lists; you can't make your own, and others' private lists are off-limits. If you're signed in, Twitter allows you to search for lists, but it's harder to find them without an account. Try ScoutZen's Twitter list search to discover ones that you'll like.

Try Nitter

If you want to use more of Twitter without an account, try using Nitter, which is an open source, privacy-focused alternate frontend for Twitter. It strips Twitter down to its basic information, so you can search and browse without an account or interacting with the actual site. It also claims faster performance.

Using it is almost identical to Twitter itself: use the search bar to look for a hashtag, account, or topic you want to see more about. Click any of these to read more tweets about them. The dropdown arrow shows advanced search features, allowing you to find exactly what you're looking for.

Enjoy Twitter, Even Without Signing In

With these tips and tools, you can get something out of Twitter even if you don't have an account. They'll let you keep up with the content you care about, without getting sucked into endless tweets on your timeline.

No matter whether you use an account or not, there's a lot to know when you use Twitter, and lots of uses for the platform.