How to Change Your Twitter Handle’s Name

It’s easy to change your Twitter handle. Just go to your settings and tweak away, right?

Well, yes and no.

You can certainly change your Twitter handle whenever you want. But if you do it without taking the right precautions, you could end up losing followers in the process. They can confuse your new handle, or they won't be able to find you in case they want to – which kind of defeats the purpose of changing the handle, doesn’t it?

The Twitter handle is vital for businesses and personal brands that depend on people finding them easily. That is why below we will show you the steps to change your Twitter handle name on Android, iPhones, and desktops.

Reasons you might want to change your Twitter Handle

Complexity

Many people, when creating their Twitter profile, do not give the name the importance it deserves. And, as a consequence, they end up choosing a name that is too complex or difficult to remember.

There are many cases where people who made viral tweets and got high engagement on a post are unreachable later because of how difficult it is to find them again.

For this reason, it is crucial to keep the complexity of your name in mind because, if by any chance you go viral or one of your tweets goes viral, your name is the first thing people will look for. If you want to know how to go viral on Twitter, we recommend “How to write a viral Twitter Thread”.

Antiquity

There are some people who have had a Twitter account for several years, so many that the name has already become antiquated. This is one of the reasons why many people change their username.

Although, if you are a person who has several followers and has already built an audience for a few years, it is possible that those people take your name as a reference. If this is your case, it is preferable that you do not change your name, since your current name would be a reference for your audience.

And, if you are thinking about whether or not to build an audience on Twitter, we recommend you read  “Should I build a Twitter audience?”.

Brand

There is also the situation where a person has created a personal Twitter account and then uses that account for their brand or business. In this case, it is very necessary that the name of the account is changed to the name of the brand that the Twitter account is going to pass to.

This is also necessary if the Twitter account is used for selling, either for advertising or selling by DMs. If you have a Twitter account for your business, we recommend you read “How to sell on Twitter DMs”.

First thing first - Some precautions before changing your Twitter Handle

If you're planning on changing your Twitter handle, there are a few things you can do to avoid losing any followers.

First, announce the change to your followers so they know in advance how to find you, and not to confuse your new handle / unfollow you because of the new name.

Second, update your profile and bio to reflect the new handle.

And finally, retweet your own tweets from the new account so your followers.

When changing your Twitter handle, follow these steps to ensure you don't lose any followers:

1. Announce the change to your followers in advance

2. Update your photo profile, bio (and pinned tweet?) to match the new handle

3. Retweet old tweets from the new account

By taking these precautions, you can maintain your following aware of the changes and making sure they won’t confuse you and unfollow due to not knowing your new handle.

That said, let’s get on to how to make the change:

How to change your Twitter handle from an Android, iPhone or tablet

Steps to change Twitter's Handle name: Profile Photo (or the "three dots" for "More" on Desktop) > Settings & Privacy > Your Account > Account Information > Username

The actual steps are all equal in all devices, so you shouldn’t have any issues when trying to change your handle.

Step 1

First, you have to open your Twitter app on your device. Then click on your profile photo that appears in the bottom left corner of your screen.

Step 2

Then a side menu will open on the left, scroll down until you reach the option that says “Settings and Privacy”.

Step 3

Then, you will have to choose the option “Your account”.

Step 4

Now you will choose the option “Account information”.

Step 5

Then you will continue with the “Username” option.

This is where you will be able to choose your new name.

Remember that this has to contain at least 4 characters and a maximum of 15 characters.

With this, you would already have your Twitter handle name changed from your Android.

How to change your Twitter handle from a desktop

Step 1

First, log in to your account from the Twitter website.

Step 2

In the menu on the left, click on the button that says “More”.

Step 3

Then go to “Settings and Privacy”.

Step 4

Then in “Your account”, click on “Account information”.

Step 5

Then you will continue with the “Username” option. This is where you will be able to choose your new name. Remember that this has to contain at least 4 characters and a maximum of 15 characters.

And you would already have your Twitter handle name changed from your Desktop.

Will I lose followers if I change my handle?

No. If you change your handle, you will still have the same followers. The only thing that changes is your Twitter handle.

If you change your handle name, you should still have all of your followers, and you should be able to find all of your old tweets. If you can't find your old tweets, we recommend you to read How to find old tweets.

Will changing my handle make a difference if I’m “shadowbanned”?

No. Shadowbans cannot be removed by changing your Twitter handle. That is why it will not change anything to do it and you will continue in the same circumstances as before.

That's it! Your handle name has been changed 🙌

Being able to change the handle name of your account is simple and important. Changing your handle name can benefit you in many ways.

If you didn't know how to change it, these simple steps will help you do it faster and easier.