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Frequently Asked Questions

Developer portal management FAQs

Developer application process

How do I apply for a developer account?

Developers can apply for a Twitter developer account filling out an application for API access with specific use case details.

To ensure a quick approval, please be as detailed as possible with your use case. Also, please pay close attention to the email address that is associated with the @user account that you used to apply. If our team needs additional details about your use case, we will reach out to this email address with questions.

What happens after I apply?

Twitter reviews applications to ensure compliance with the Developer Agreement and Policy, Automation Rules, Display Requirements, and the Twitter Rules. Developer applicants will receive an email when the review is complete, or if more detail is needed about the described use case.

How will I be notified about my application?

You will be notified with updates about your application via the email address you verified before submitting your application. We will continue to use this email for all correspondence about your application, even if you later change the email associated with your Twitter account in your Twitter app settings.

What email is being used to send communications about my developer account?

The email address associated with your Twitter account and that you verify to submit your application is the email that will be used for communications about the application status. At this time, the email for application-related correspondence cannot be changed after the application is submitted.

When will I get access?

We aim to review all applications quickly. While in review, you will see “Application under review” when you go to our developer portal. If it’s unclear how you intend to use the Twitter API, it may delay our review and prompt requests for more detail, which can delay access. Please make sure the information you provide is accurate and detailed, and monitor your email for updates or requests for more information.

How can I check the status of my application?

You will be notified with updates about your application via the email address you verified before submitting your application. There is no way to check the status of an application through the developer portal at this time, so please monitor your email for updates or requests for more information; those emails will continue to come from developer-accounts@twitter.com.

If your account has been pending for a while, please search your email inbox for messages from developer-accounts@twitter.com and respond with the information that it is requesting from you. If you are unable to find an email from developer-accounts@twitter.com, please use this form, making sure to select the "I have a question not covered by these points" option.

I think my application was closed before I responded to a request for more information. What can I do?

Developers can reopen a dormant (non-rejected) application review by responding to the last email sent to your email address about your application and provide the details requested to continue the application process.

I'm receiving a "server error" when trying to apply for an organization account. How do I get past this?

If you receive an error that mentions that your organization handle does not exist, you will have to navigate back to the "Organization" page in the application flow and select a valid Twitter handle. Once you do this, you will be able to submit your application.

What if I get rejected?

Applications may be rejected if they are found to be in violation of any section of the Developer Agreement and Policy, Automation Rules, Display Requirements, and/or the Twitter Rules.

We don’t currently allow you to appeal this decision. We are investigating options to allow people who feel they’ve been inappropriately rejected to appeal. Please stay informed for future updates.

Please do not write into the forums asking about your rejection, as we cannot comment on rejections publicly.

Can I re-apply for a developer account?

No, not at this time. If this changes we will announce through our multiple channels here: Stay Informed.

Is it possible to have multiple developer accounts?

At this time, a single Twitter user can have a single developer account or can be a member of an organization account. Users that already have a developer account cannot apply for another, nor can they be added to other's developer accounts.

Developer portal management

What is the developer portal?

The developer portal is a self-serve user interface within developer.twitter.com where developers can manage their API access and Twitter apps. The developer portal is visible with a logged in context to developer.twitter.com and an approved developer account. You can access the developer portal by clicking on the 'Dashboard' link or the @handle dropdown navigation panel in the top right-hand corner of developer.twitter.com.

How do I access my developer account?

A developer account is owned by a specific Twitter @user and is viewed through a logged in context at developer.twitter.com. If a Twitter user is logged into Twitter and visits developer.twitter.com, the logged in user will be shown in the top left corner and actions are taken within the screen's context affect the logged in user's developer account.

I’m a Verizon customer and I can’t log in to my account

If you’re a new or existing Verizon customer, you may not be able to log in to your account because you’re not receiving a login verification PIN via text message. Try logging out of your Twitter account and logging back in. You should then receive a verification PIN via SMS. If this doesn't resolve your issue, send a text message from your device with the message content, GO, to the Twitter short code 40404. This will opt you in to receive SMS from Twitter, which is consistent with your notification settings. More details can be found at this help page.

What are some best practices for managing a company's Twitter development tools?

If you are going to be developing with Twitter for your company, then we recommend that you apply for an 'organization' account using your company's Twitter handle. If your company's engineering team uses Twitter apps for work related to the company that aren't owned by this company's Twitter handle, we suggest for you to transfer those Twitter apps over to the company's account. You can do so by applying to transfer app ownership. Having all Twitter apps owned by the company's Twitter handle will help to prevent any issues in the future in case an engineering resource leaves the company.

Why can't I see the "Team" option on my account drop down?

This means that you've applied as an individual account, as opposed to an organization account. The difference is the ability to give additional users access to a shared dev environment.

Can I change my individual account to an organization account?

Changing an individual setup to a team setup is not possible today.

Can a developer be on two different developer accounts?

This is not possible at this time. If you do need multiple accounts, please let us know in our developer forum.

How many developers can I have on my account?

There currently isn't a limit on the number of developers on your team. To review team members, roles, and added dates, see the "Manage team" page.

Why can't I add a specific team member to my account?

When building out your developer/admin team on the "Manage team" page, there are some things to consider:

Team members @handle can only be added to a developer account if:

The @handle is not suspended, protected, muted or blocked by the @handle account admin
The @handle must have a verified email address and allow email
The @handle is not a member of any other dev account.
The @handle has not applied or been approved for their own dev account
If the @handle was invited to join the dev account, but then the invite was revoked, the @handle cannot be re-invited for 24 hours.

If your team member never received an email, please ask them to double check to see if they have an email address associated with their Twitter account, located in Twitter settings.

How many dev environments can one developer account have?

This depends on the product that you are using and the tier at which you are subscribed you can learn about this by reviewing the documentation of the products that are currently available via the developer portal.

Where can I learn more about Twitter apps and the Twitter app dashboard?

We have a documentation section specifically for Twitter apps and the Twitter app dashboard. You can review the related FAQs here.

Do you still have a question about the dev portal that isn't addressed here?

Please search our developer forum's developer portal section.

Premium API billing FAQs

How do I add a credit card or debit card?

If your developer application has been approved, you will be able to add a credit card for premium upgrades. To add a new credit card to your developer account, log into the developer portal > handle drop-down menu > billing > payment methods > add new payment method.

What types of credit/debit cards do you accept?

Twitter currently accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club and JCB credit cards as a payment source.

Entering credit card information

In order to finish setting up your card from the add new payment method page, follow these instructions:

Enter all the relevant fields for your card.
Make sure your address matches the billing information on your card
Click submit

How often will I be charged?

Billing for Premium Twitter data APIs occurs monthly based on the date of first premium product subscription purchased. The renewal date of your premium subscriptions is listed on the Subscriptions page as the 'Subscription renewal date' and charges are made at the specified date and the UTC time 00:00:00.

What does the invoice/charge look like?

Charges to the card on file for premium will have the description "Twitter" and will use the billing address on the credit card. We will only generate invoices with the billing address of the credit card on file. We don't currently have any way of generating an invoice with a different address.

When should I cancel/downgrade if I need to?

Subscriptions must be changed before the next renewal date to not get charged for the next month. It is not possible to give refunds at this time.

Why do I have a credit on my invoice?

When you upgrade to a higher tier, a prorated credit for your existing tier is applied to your invoice.

If I've already used some sandbox requests, will those requests count towards my paid premium subscription?

When you upgrade to a paid tier of premium, your total number of requests for that billing period will be number associated with the paid tier. In other words, your paid requests are not additive to any sandbox requests that you might have made throughout the month.

For example, if you have used 240 requests with the sandbox tier of Search Tweets: 30-day and decide to upgrade to the 500 total requests paid tier, you will have an additional 260 requests during the subscription period for a total of 500 requests.

I have already paid for a paid premium tier this month. If I upgrade to a higher tier, how will that affect my bill?

When you upgrade from a paid tier to a higher paid tier of premium, the additional paid fee will be prorated for the first month. You will then be charged the higher tier's fee for any subsequent months.

How do I downgrade from a paid tier to a lesser tier or to the "Sandbox" package?

If you are downgrading to a lower paid tier, you can do so by navigating to the product in question's subscription management page by clicking the "Upgrade" button on the "Subscriptions" page. From here, select the desired tier in the "Choose level of usage" table and click the "Review changes" button.

If you are cancelling your paid subscription and moving to back to the free "Sandbox" package, you can do so from the "Subscriptions" page by clicking the elipsis next to the product in question and selecting "Cancel."

Please note that subscription periods are in UTC time.

What if my card is declined on an auto payment?

Twitter auto-renews your credit card at the end of your billing cycle, and if it declines or there is some issue with your card, the system by default will not retry. We will notify you via email that there was an issue running your card, and give you a few days to renew again. If you're finding there are frequent issues with running your credit card, you should talk to your bank to let them know to expect this recurring charge as they may be able to put a note on your account to avoid disruption.

If a premium subscription is not properly renewed or the payment fails by the date on your subscriptions page, the system assumes that you didn't want to renew. An email is sent to the account owner and access is allowed for 2 extra days, where after all premium subscriptions are downgraded to the sandbox tier of the product, and any subscriptions above the 15 (sandbox level of access) are dropped.

Where can I read more about the billing terms and conditions?

Please refer to our terms and conditions page here.

Still have a premium API billing question not addressed here?

Once you've logged into the developer portal, you can access our billing support channel via the billing page.