Help Center

I'm locked out after too many login attempts

What does it mean to be locked out?

  • After a limited number of failed attempts to sign in to Twitter, you will be temporarily locked out from trying to sign in. When your account is locked, you will not be able to sign in — even with the correct password.
  • This lock lasts about an hour and will then clear on its own.

If the lock does not clear after an hour:

  1. Disable your third-party applications, like Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, widgets, etc. (Only re-enable the applications you've disabled after you've confirmed you can sign in at twitter.com.)
  2. Wait an hour.
  3. After an hour has passed, check to confirm that you can sign in successfully at https://twitter.com/login. If you can't remember your password, you can request a new password here.
  4. If you don't receive a password reset email and still cannot remember your password, please read this help article for troubleshooting tips.

Why does Twitter lock accounts?

  • Twitter limits the number of times that someone can try signing in to an account for security reasons. We don't want to give hackers unlimited attempts at guessing your password. So, we block them from trying after a while.

I didn't trigger the lock. Was my account compromised?

  • If user's account appears to be hacked or phished, we may proactively reset the passwords for the affected accounts to revoke access to the hacker. In these cases, we send an email to the account's real owner (you) with additional information on how to reset the password. If you got one of these emails, please follow the instructions in the email.
  • If you think your account has been hacked or phished, you'll find some additional information on this help page for compromised accounts.

What if I keep getting locked out and I use TweetDeck?

  • If you're using TweetDeck and are locked out of your account, please sign out of and close TweetDeck entirely. You will not be able to verify or change your new password in TweetDeck while you are locked out, and keeping TweetDeck open may be causing your ongoing locks. Wait an hour and then confirm that you can sign in on twitter.com.
  • Once you've logged in successfully at twitter.com, open TweetDeck and go immediately to Preferences and then Accounts. Select your account, then verify and save your correct password.

Still need help? Contact Support.