How to see message requests on Twitter (X) and open your DMs to everyone

I read the Requests folder as a sender and as a receiver most days. Our software sends first messages to people who do not follow the sender.

Where to find message requests on Twitter (X)

Same two boxes, two sets of names. X's help page uses the app names.

Inside a request: you get Accept or Delete. Photos, videos and link previews stay hidden until you accept. The sender cannot tell you opened it.

What are Priority and Hidden?

What X says: Grok sorts every request into one of two inboxes. The second one "may be spam or lower priority", in X's words.

What we see: Priority holds real people with a clear reason to write. Hidden holds links, copied text, mass sends, and brand new accounts.

Do this now: open Hidden, or Other on the web. When someone says they messaged you and you never saw it, that is where it went.

Why is the Requests folder missing?

Your DMs are closed. In the apps the Requests entry only exists when your account accepts messages from people you do not follow. On x.com the page stays, with a grey banner: "You can't receive new message requests. Change Settings."

Two other places a request hides: the Hidden tab, and behind the quality filter. That filter is on by default on the apps and sends no alert.

One exception: chats that existed before you closed your DMs stay open.

How to open DMs on Twitter to everyone

1. Open Settings and privacy. On x.com it is under More. In the apps, under your profile picture.
2. Tap Privacy and safety, then Direct Messages.
3. Under Allow message requests from, pick Everyone.

In the apps the switch has its own name. iPhone: Allow messages requests from everyone. Android: Receive messages from anyone. Both per X's help page. New accounts sometimes have it on already.

The choices on that screen

For a business account, the first row is the right pick. Every lead the second row turns away is a lead you never hear from.

Can you delete message requests in bulk?

X's help pages describe no bulk delete control, so check what your app offers. Work one tab at a time: Hidden first, then Priority by hand, because real leads land there too.

A deleted request tells the sender nothing, and X says it does not stop them writing to you again. Block the account if you want that.

Your own cold DM, from the other side

Your first message is a request. It shows no media until they accept, you get no read receipt, and Grok decides whether it lands in Priority or Hidden.

From what we see, three things push it into Hidden:

• A link in the first message.
• The same text sent to many people.
• Bursts from a new account.

X also caps first messages to strangers: 7 a day on a free account, 35 on Premium. Whether you can send at all depends on their setting: DMing someone who does not follow you. For a first line that reads well as a request: our cold DM scripts.

Xsender writes to that cap. It sends each account's share for the day and no more. It remembers who you already wrote to, and ends the follow-ups the moment a reply lands.

Do this today: open Settings and privacy, then Privacy and safety, then Direct Messages. Read which box is on. That one setting explains most missing requests.

FAQ

How do you check message requests on Twitter?

On x.com, open Chat, open the All menu at the top of the list and pick Requests. Then look in both tabs, Message Requests and Other. In the iPhone and Android apps, open Messages, then Requests, and check Priority and Hidden. If Requests is missing, your DMs are closed to people you do not follow.

Can I turn message requests off on X?

Yes. Under Settings and privacy, Privacy and safety, Direct Messages, set Allow message requests from to No one. Nobody new can write to you, but chats that already exist stay open. Pick Checkmark users instead if you want a smaller inbox without shutting it.

Does the sender know I read their request?

No. X sends no read receipt on a request until you accept it, and media stays hidden until then too. Once you accept, the chat behaves like any other, and read receipts apply if you have them on. Deleting a request tells the sender nothing.

Do message requests expire?

X's help pages describe no expiry. A request sits in Priority or Hidden until you accept or delete it, and a request from before you closed your DMs stays too. If one is missing, check the Hidden tab and the quality filter before you assume it was never sent.