Twitter defaults to a For You page; star icon is gone

Twitter is changing how it moves between algorithm-driven and reverse-chronological timelines and the making the algorithmic feed the default. In a change rolled out to iOS users first, the company removed the star button at the top right that allows you to switch between two fonts. Instead, there are two tabs, one labelled "For You" and the other "Following," when you go to the app, you'll see the For You tab first.

For You shares a name with TikTok's algorithm-driven feed, like the old "Home" option, which shows tweets from people you follow, interspersed with tweets it thinks you might like. The following is what used to be called "Latest Tweets." While the change makes it easier to switch between them, with just a swipe instead of a few taps, there's one thing you've been missing: if you set your app to show you "Latest Tweets," that would normally stick around.

However, even when you close the app and reopen it, the 'For You' feed is displayed. That's a bit annoying; many people prefer reverse chronological streaming, and previous attempts to get rid of it or make it more difficult to access have generally drawn anger. While this change technically makes it easier to access from the algorithmic timeline, it definitely makes the latter option harder to ignore. The old star button interface is still available on Android and the web, at least for now.

The change partially fulfills a promise by Twitter CEO Elon Musk. On Dec. 20, he tweeted that the "Main timeline should allow for an easy sideways swipe between top, latest, trending and topics that you follow" and said the company would "make this change soon." So far, there's no option to jump to trending and followed topics, though the trending page is just a few taps away in the search menu.