Twitter’s Timeline Has No Background Images Anymore

Twitter users can’t set their own background images as they browse the website anymore. It turned out that the developers quietly turned off this feature: now all backgrounds are replaced with a light grey. Indeed, now user-set backgrounds are only visible when visiting a specific user’s feed or individual tweet, while if you browse the home timeline, you are now faced with a plain grey background.

This was a surprise for many site members, as the update was initially introduced without any announcement. This caused numerous topics and discussions, where users were wondering whether the site had broken. However, a Twitter representative later confirmed that this change was deliberate. The company announced that it is removing background images from the home and notifications timelines on the Internet for all users. From now on, background images can only be available in cases where logged-in users see them publicly (these include Tweet pages, list pages and collections pages). There were even suggestions in the web that this was done to pave the way for advertisements which take over the whole background.

Of course, the unexpected update has upset many users, especially those who appreciated the ability to personalize their Twitter experience. However, solution to the problem has already been found – one of the users has created a Chrome plugin to undo the change. Mika, a developer from Germany, released the Twitter Background Restorer on Github. He was the one who speculated that there would be paid-for background adverts on Twitter now. However, you can still see the background on individual tweets.