Twitter

Twitter for Android and iOS isn’t showing the direct message button on profiles for many

Ben Schoon | Jan 27 2023 - 7:22 am PT

Using Twitter has been a wild ride for the past couple of months, with updates and changes coming constantly. With the latest updates to Twitter for Android and iOS, the option to send a direct message through an account’s profile has disappeared.

The latest Twitter updates for Android and iOS rolled out late last week and, apparently, have removed the option to send a direct message to another account directly from a profile page for all users. The “DM” button typically appears next to the follow and notification buttons, but has simply gone missing with no replacement.

This appears to be the case for all Twitter accounts, and seems to most likely be a simple bug.

Twitter’s web app still shows the direct message button as normal, but it has disappeared for virtually all Android users, and many iOS users as well. Multiple members of the 9to5Mac team say it is still appearing on their iPhone while others are not seeing it. Our Damien Wilde is seeing the button missing on his Android phones, but is seeing it on an iPhone signed into the same account. There are also many public reports of the button disappearing.

With the state of Twitter in constant flux, it’s hard to say whether or not this is an intentional move on Twitter’s part, but it’s certainly something we hope to see fixed. In the meantime, you can still start a direct message by searching for the account you want to send a message to in the messages tab.

In recent weeks, Twitter has also updated its Android app with a few other key changes. For one, Twitter Blue is now available through the app for $11/month, which will give your account a blue check, priority in search and conversations, and not much more. The app has also recently picked up the “For You” tab, which shows tweets in an algorithmic view rather than chronological. Those changes were already in place on iOS.