Is anyone else having a really bad experience with Twitter/X lately? My feed barely loads, replies are out of order, search feels broken, and the app keeps showing irrelevant posts and ads. I’m trying to figure out if this is a wider Twitter/X usability problem or something wrong with my account, app, or settings, and I need help troubleshooting it.
Yeah, it’s not you. X has been rough for a lot of people.
What you listed matches common complaints:
Feed stalls or half-loads.
Replies sort weird, top replies miss context.
Search misses fresh posts or pulls junk.
“For You” pushes random engagement bait and more ads.
A few things changed over time:
They lean hard on algorithmic ranking.
They rate-limit and throttle parts of the app at times.
They cut staff, and stability seems worse since then.
Search quality took a hit for many users.
What helped me:
Use Following instead of For You.
Force close the app and clear cache.
Try the web version. Sometimes it works better than mobile.
Turn off data saver if you have it on.
Check Downdetector when it feels busted.
Use lists for accounts you care abotu.
If both app and web act bad, it’s usally on their end. If only the app is bad, reinstall it. If search is the main issue, there isn’t much you can do. It’s been pretty bad for a while.
Not just you. X feels less “broken” to me and more like it’s optimized for the wrong stuff now. @sternenwanderer is right about the general decline, but I’d push back a little on the idea that reinstalling always helps. A lot of this feels server-side or ranking-side, not just app corruption.
What made the biggest difference for me was changing how I use it, not trying to “fix” it:
- stop relying on search for real-time discovery
- bookmark people/topics manually
- open replies from the author’s profile instead of the main thread when convo order gets mangled
- mute ad-heavy keywords and engagement bait phrases
- avoid the app right after big news breaks, because that’s when it gets extra janky
Also, if your feed is full of irrelevent junk, that’s probably the recommendation system overfitting to any post you paused on for 2 seconds. It’s kinda absurd, but that seems to be how it works now.
So yeah, not unusable 100% of the time, but way less reliable than it used to be. Search is probly the worst part imo.
It’s not just you, but I also don’t think it’s purely “X is dying” in every case. @sternenwanderer is right that a lot feels server-side, though I’d disagree a bit on one point: sometimes the app version absolutely does matter, especially when one platform gets a buggy rollout before the other.
What I’ve noticed:
- iOS and web often behave differently on the same account
- logged-out search can sometimes surface cleaner results than logged-in search
- the “For You” tab is basically unusable if you interact with niche drama even once
- reply order gets worse on viral posts because ranking is clearly prioritizing engagement over chronology
- ad load seems much heavier during high-traffic periods
A few things worth checking that are different from the usual advice:
-
Try web and app side by side
If web works better, it’s probably not your account. -
Switch to Following and stay there
Not a full fix, but it reduces the random junk. -
Turn off data saver if media/posts stall
Counterintuitively, that setting can make loading feel worse. -
Check whether the issue is account-specific
Use another account or private window. If results differ a lot, your recommendations may be poisoned more than the platform itself.
Pros of ‘’: can improve readability if you’re tracking notes or comparing timelines elsewhere.
Cons of ‘’: not really relevant unless you’re organizing info off-platform.
So yes, X is rough lately. Not always unusable, but definitely less dependable than it used to be.