To send a DM on X, open the person's profile and tap the message button, or open your messages, start a new message and search for their name. You can message anyone who follows you. For everyone else, it depends on their settings: your message either becomes a request they can accept, or cannot be sent at all. Since late 2025, X has been moving its messages into Chat, which adds encryption, a four-digit passcode, calls and file sharing. This guide covers all of it, in the order you are likely to need it.

How to send a DM on X

There are three ways in, and they all end in the same place.

From the app

Open your messages from the menu at the bottom of the screen.
Tap the button to start a new message.
Search for the person by name or @handle, and select them.
Type your message and send it.

From the website

Click Messages in the menu on the left.
Click the button to start a new message.
Search for the person, select them, and click Next.
Type your message and send it.

From someone's profile

Open their profile and tap the message button next to Follow. This is the quickest way when you are already looking at their posts. If there is no message button, you cannot currently message them, which the next section explains.

Who you can message

X's rule is simple to state. You can send a message to anyone who follows you, and it goes straight into their inbox.

For people who do not follow you, it depends on what they have chosen in their settings. Some accept message requests from everyone. Some accept them only from verified accounts and from people they follow. Some accept messages only from people they follow. You cannot see which setting someone uses; you only find out when the message button is missing or X tells you that you cannot message them.

If that is happening to you, the guide to why you cannot DM someone on Twitter/X goes through every reason and what to do about each one.

Message requests

A message from someone you do not follow does not go into your main inbox. It goes into a separate Requests section. You can see who sent it and a preview, and choose to accept or delete it. Nothing you do there tells the sender that you have read it until you accept.

The same works in reverse. If you message someone who does not follow you, your message waits in their requests. Plenty of people rarely look there, so a quiet request is often an unseen one rather than an ignored one.

If you want people to be able to reach you, open your messages: in Settings and privacy, go to Privacy and safety, then the settings for direct messages, and allow message requests from everyone. X also offers a filter for low-quality requests, which is worth switching on if you get a lot of spam.

What changed when messages became Chat

In late 2025, X began replacing its old direct messages with Chat. It rolled out first on iPhone and the web, with Android following, and a separate XChat app arrived in April 2026. The changes that matter day to day:

Encryption. Conversations in Chat are end-to-end encrypted.
A passcode. Before you can use Chat, X asks you to set a four-digit passcode. You will need it again when you sign in on a new device.
Calls. You can make voice and video calls from a conversation.
Files. You can share files, not just photos and videos.
Edit and delete. You can edit or delete a message after sending it.
Disappearing messages. You can set messages to vanish after a while.

The passcode catches people out most often. If your messages seem stuck, or someone cannot be added to a group, an unfinished Chat set-up on either side is a likely cause.

Group chats

A group chat puts several people into one conversation, where everyone sees every message. To start one, begin a new message and add more than one person, then give the group a name so people know why they are there. X raised the maximum size of a group to 256 people in 2023.

Chat also lets you create an invite link for a group, which you can share and switch off at any time. People who click it ask to join, and you approve them. If someone who does not follow you is added to a group, it arrives in their requests, and they choose whether to accept.

Group chats are right for teams, cohorts and communities, where people should talk to each other. They are wrong for announcements to lots of people, who do not want to see each other's replies. The guide to group DMs versus mass DMs explains the difference and when to use each one.

Sending photos, videos, voice notes and files

Messages are not only text. You can attach photos, videos and GIFs, record a voice message, react to a message with an emoji, and reply to a specific message in a conversation. Chat adds file sharing and calls on top of that.

Voice notes are underused. A short spoken message stands out in an inbox full of text, and it is hard to mistake for a template.

Managing your inbox

A busy inbox needs a little housekeeping.

Mute a conversation when you want to keep it but stop the notifications. Useful for busy group chats.

Delete a conversation to clear it from your inbox. In Chat you can also delete individual messages you have sent.

Report and block from inside a conversation when someone is sending spam or harassing you. Blocking stops them messaging you at all.

Use the requests filter if spam requests become a nuisance, rather than closing your messages completely.

How many DMs you can send

X's published limit is 500 direct messages a day. Once you reach it, messages stop sending until the next day. Most people never come close, but anyone announcing something to a large following will.

There is more to pacing than the hard limit. Sending hundreds of near-identical messages in a short burst looks nothing like normal use, even when it stays under 500. Spreading messages across the day is gentler on your account and on the people receiving them. The guide to how many DMs you can send on Twitter per day goes into the numbers.

Messaging a lot of people at once

X has no built-in way to send one message to many people individually. A group chat reaches up to 256 people at once, but everyone sees everyone and every reply goes to the whole group, which is rarely what you want for an announcement.

Sending individually by hand works for a few dozen people. Beyond that, most people use a tool. The Twitter/X mass DM tool in Tweeksocial sends one personalised message to each follower you choose, or to a CSV list of handles, spread through your active hours at up to 300 a day per connected account. Replies come back as normal private conversations.

The same rules about who can receive your messages still apply, so a mass DM works best on your own followers. If you need a list of them first, the guide to exporting your Twitter followers covers the options.

Writing DMs that get replies

The message matters more than the method. A few habits make the difference.

Say why you are writing, straight away. "Hi Alex, I saw your thread on pricing pages and had a question" gives someone a reason to keep reading. "Hey!" on its own does not.

Keep it short. A few lines is plenty for a first message. Long first messages feel like a pitch, even when they are not.

Ask one easy question. A question that takes ten seconds to answer gets answered. Three questions get none.

Hold back the link. A first message that is mostly a link reads as promotion. Share the link once someone replies.

Use their name, and mean it. Personalisation that refers to something real about the person beats a name dropped into a template.

For examples you can adapt, see our Twitter mass DM templates and the guide to the best time to send Twitter DMs.

Frequently asked questions

How do I send a DM on X?

Open the person's profile and tap the message button, or open your messages, start a new message, search for their name and select them. Type your message and send it.

Why is there no message button on someone's profile?

Because you cannot currently message them. They do not follow you, and their settings do not accept message requests from you.

What is X Chat?

Chat is X's replacement for its old direct messages, rolled out from late 2025. It adds end-to-end encryption, a four-digit passcode, voice and video calls, file sharing, and the ability to edit and delete messages.

Do I need a passcode to use messages on X?

For Chat, yes. X asks you to create a four-digit passcode before you use it, and to enter it again when you sign in on a new device.

How many DMs can I send a day on X?

X's published limit is 500 direct messages a day. Spreading them through the day is better than sending them in one burst.

Can I DM someone who does not follow me?

Only if their settings accept message requests from you. If they do, your message waits in their Requests section until they accept it.

The short version

Send a DM from someone's profile or from your messages. You can always message people who follow you; for everyone else, it depends on their settings, and your message becomes a request. Chat has replaced the old DMs with encryption, a passcode, calls and files. The daily limit is 500 messages, and anything sent to many people works best as individual, personalised messages to your own followers.

See how the Twitter/X mass DM tool works: one personalised message to each follower you choose, paced through the day, from $27 a month with a 3-day free trial.

How to DM on Twitter/X in 2026: Sending, Requests, Groups and Chat