Locked out of your Twitter account but don’t know why and wish to unlock the account? We’ve you covered. In this article we’re going to discuss Twitter lockouts, why does Twitter lock accounts, how to unlock your account and everything about limited accounts.

If you’ve entered incorrect login credentials (ID/password) multiple times, you will be temporarily locked out of your Twitter account for about an hour. During this time, you won’t be able to login to your account even if you figure out the correct password.

But what if your Twitter account isn’t unlocked after an hour? You can try by disabling third-party apps such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, etc. and re-enable them once you’re signed in or you can wait for another hour.

If you’re unable to login with the password that you remember, it’s always a good idea to request for a new password on the login screen.

Also read: How to verify Twitter account: 5 things you need to know

Why was your Twitter account locked?

Other than the scenario mentioned above where incorrect login credentials lead to a temporary lockdown of an account, Twitter might also lock your account even if you’re logged in if they see suspicious behaviour from your account and feel that it might be compromised.

To discourage hackers, Twitter has set a limited number of login attempts.

If it appears that your account might have been hacked or phished, Twitter automatically resets the password for that account in order revoke access for it from all the places — including to the hacker — and send an email with instructions to the account owner.

If you think your account has been hacked, check out this article to know what all happens if your account is hacked, how to retrieve it back and security tips to keep your Twitter account secure.

If you’re using TweetDeck

If you’re continuously locked out and you use TweetDeck, you’ll need to sign out of the TweetDeck account. When your account is locked, you won’t be able to change and verify your new password in TweetDeck.

Wait for an hour and then once you’re signed into Twitter, open TweetDeck to verify and change the new password.

How to unlock your Twitter account

• Log in to your account
• You’ll see a message reading: ‘Your account has been locked’
• Select ‘Start’
• Enter your phone number
• You’ll receive a verification code via text message or a phone call
• Enter the verification code and click/tap ‘Submit’

Your account will be unlocked. While your account is locked, anyone visiting your profile will see a message that will tell them that the account has been showing unusual activity and then confirming whether they still want to visit the profile or not.

What are limited Twitter accounts?

If your account has violated Twitter rules such as getting aggressive engagements/followers/retweets, your account is switched to a limited account. This means that you can still browse Twitter but can only send Direct Messages (DM) to your followers.

Any other actions such as tweeting, retweeting, liking will be suspended. Anyone other than your followers won’t be able to see your past tweets either.

In order to reverse a Limited account, the account holder needs to ‘verify’ their email address, add a phone number to the account or delete tweets that violated the rules.

You can also choose to use Twitter in the limited state by choosing ‘Continue to Twitter’. Beware that once you’ve selected this option, you won’t be able to go back to the verification option.

Repeated violations of such Twitter rules as aggressive engagement will lead the account to in Limited state perpetually. In some instances, Twitter also limits the reach of the posts of a Twitter account if they continually exhibit behaviour that violates Twitter rules.

How to restore Limited Twitter account?

To restore your Limited Twitter account, look for the message ‘We’ve temporarily limited some of your account features’, and click/tap on ‘Start’. Follow the instructions to restore your account.

If your account is charged with repeated violations of Twitter rules, it will get banned permanently. If your account has been suspended, here is how to get it unsuspended.

Also read: 5 ways to delete all of your Tweets at once