Twitter's mobile apps will now stick to your last selected timeline tab—be it the algorithmic "For You" or reverse chronological "Following." No more defaulting to a bunch of random tweets if you don't want to see them.
The social network in January replaced the "Home" and "Latest" toggle with new lists pinned to the top of the timeline as part of what CEO Elon Musk called "a much larger UI overhaul." But the algorithmic "For You" feed was the default, meaning if you wanted a stream of just the people you followed, you had to tap "Following" each time you logged in.
Following complaints, Twitter announced that the app would open to where you last left off rather than defaulting to "For You" each time. That rolled out on the web last month, and it's now available on the Android and iOS apps, too.
The algorithmic timeline dates back to 2016, and was an effort to get people to engage with accounts beyond their followers' list. But it was accessed via a star icon on the top right and once you made your pick, it remained there until you manually switched it. For those who take care to curate their lists and want up-to-the-minute details on breaking news events, reverse-chronological was the preferred view.
Even Musk agreed. In May, prior to his $44 billion Twitter acquisition, he argued that people "are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don't realize." Once installed as the Twitter CEO, Musk said the "main timeline should allow for an easy sideways swipe between top, latest, trending, and topics that you follow."