Do you ever find yourself mindlessly scrolling through Twitter, liking tweets without a second thought? With over 500 million tweets liked per day, you‘re definitely not alone!
Likes are an easy way to interact and validate opinions you agree with. But there may come a time when you want to hide which tweets you‘ve liked for privacy or other reasons.
In this article, I‘ll walk you through several straightforward methods to conceal your likes on Twitter, step-by-step. By the end, you‘ll have all the knowledge needed to control who can see your like activity.
Why Do People Like Tweets and When to Hide Them
Before diving in, let‘s quickly cover why users like tweets in the first place, and reasons you may want to hide your likes at times.
The Psychology Behind Liking Tweets
People like tweets for a few main reasons:
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Validation – It feels rewarding when others agree with our takes and likes provide social validation. Twitter capitalizes on this dopamine hit.
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Support – Liking a tweet from someone you follow shows support and engagement with their content.
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Save for later – Likes function as bookmarks for tweets you want to refer back to.
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Train the algorithm – Liking certain tweet types will lead Twitter to show you more of that content.
When You Might Want to Hide Your Likes
Despite the benefits, there are legitimate reasons you may want to conceal your likes, such as:
- Avoid judgment for liking controversial topics
- Maintain privacy around interests and views
- Prevent unwanted contact or harassment
- Keep anonymity as an "egg" account
High profile figures often face scrutiny for their like history. And regular users may simply want to tweet freely without concern over who can see their likes.
Luckily, while Twitter doesn‘t allow you to hide likes natively, workarounds do exist.
4 Methods to Hide Your Likes on Twitter
Now let‘s explore step-by-step instructions for four different techniques to hide your likes, from simple to more advanced:
Method 1: Make Your Twitter Account Private
The quickest way to conceal your likes is making your entire Twitter account private. This prevents anyone from seeing your tweets, followers, or likes without your approval.
Here‘s how to switch to a private account on mobile or desktop:
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Tap your profile icon > Settings and privacy or click your avatar > Settings and privacy.
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Select "Privacy and safety" from the menu.
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Choose "Audience and tagging".
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Enable "Protect your Tweets" by checking the box on desktop or toggling the switch on mobile.
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Click "Save changes".
Going forward, users will have to request to follow you before seeing any of your activity. You‘ll get notifications to approve followers.
The main downside is your tweets and likes also won‘t appear publically outside your followers. But if you want a quick blanket solution, this is the easiest route.
Method 2: Manually Unlike Tweets
For more precision, you can selectively unlike tweets you want to hide rather than your entire history.
Here‘s how to unlike tweets manually:
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Click your profile picture > Likes to see your list of liked tweets.
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Scroll through and unlike any specific tweets by clicking the heart icon again. This removes them from your likes.
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Keep repeating step 2 to unlike all desired tweets.
While more time consuming than a blanket solution, manual unliking lets you precisely control which likes get hidden.
Method 3: Use a Script to Unlike All Tweets
If aiming to clear your entire likes history, you can use a simple script to automate unliking tweets instead of doing it manually.
This method only works on the Twitter desktop site using the Chrome browser.
Follow these steps:
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Visit your likes feed at twitter.com/yourusername/likes in Chrome.
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Press Control + Shift + J (Windows) or Command + Option + J (Mac) to open the console.
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Paste and run this script in the console:
// Script to unlike all tweets
setInterval(() => {
for (const d of document.querySelectorAll(‘div[data-testid="unlike"]‘)) {
d.click()
}
window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight)
}, 5000)
This automatically scrolls and unlikes all tweets in your feed. It stops when complete.
- Reload your likes page to confirm all were removed by the script.
While quick, this method requires comfort with coding and only works on desktop Chrome.
Method 4: Deactivate Your Twitter Account
The most nuclear option is deactivating your account altogether, which removes all your tweets, likes, followers – wiping your presence.
Here is how to delete your Twitter account completely:
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Go to Settings > Your account.
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At bottom, click "Deactivate your account".
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Confirm you want to deactivate and enter your password.
After 30 days of inactivity, Twitter will permanently delete the deactivated account. Only pursue this if you are totally certain.
Comparing the Main Ways to Hide Likes
Method | Effort Needed | Precision | Affect on Account | Risks |
---|---|---|---|---|
Private Account | Easy | Low (hides all activity) | Limits public reach | Reduces engagement |
Manual Unliking | Moderate | High (select specific likes) | Minimal | Time consuming |
Unliking Script | Medium | High (removes all likes) | Minimal | Coding required |
Deactivate Account | Easy | High (deletes account) | Extreme | Permanent, no going back |
Third-Party Tools: Use With Caution
Some third-party Twitter apps also offer bulk unliking features, such as:
- Circleboom
- Twitter Archive Eraser
- TweetDelete
However, be very cautious when granting third-party apps access to your Twitter account data and activity. Only use reputable apps you fully trust.
Recap: How to Hide Your Likes on Twitter
While Twitter doesn‘t allow you to hide likes natively, you have workarounds:
- Make your account private
- Manually unlike tweets
- Use a script to unlike all tweets
- Deactivate your account completely
The best solution for you depends on your specific reasons for hiding likes.
I hope these detailed steps give you a few options to control likes privacy. Now you can interact on Twitter without worrying about who might see your activity.
Did you find this guide helpful? Let me know if you have any other questions!