Twitter for Android widely rolling out reverse-chronological timeline

Abner Li | Jan 15 2019 - 2:22 pm PT

Last month, Twitter moved to address one of the biggest problems with its first-party apps by letting users select a reverse-chronological timeline. That option is now rolling out to Twitter for Android.

Widely rolling out today, there is a new “sparkle” button in the top-right corner that controls this preference. Tapping slides up a sheet that either notes “Latest Tweets show up as they happen” or “Home shows your top Tweets first,” with the button to switch underneath.

The latter is an algorithmic approach that tries to show items you might have missed or major events since your last refresh, while the former respects chronology and makes Twitter feel more like a live service. Unfortunately, this feed selection is not persistent, with users “switched back Home after you’ve been away for a while.”

That time frame is somewhat vague, but it’s better than having no option like before. There is also a shortcut to quickly open “Content preferences.” After switching timelines, a snackbar will note the view you’ve selected, while the app bar also states “Home” or “Latest tweets” next to your profile avatar.

This feature first rolled out on iOS in December, but is now widely available on Android.