Quote tweet on Twitter: how to add your take to someone else's post

You want to pass a post along with something of your own to say, but a plain repost can't carry your words, and a reply stays inside the author's thread.

A quote does both jobs: your comment on top, the original underneath, shared with your followers as one post.

Short answer: to quote tweet on Twitter, tap or click the Repost icon under the post, choose the quote option (X's help center calls it Repost as Quote), write your comment, add media if you like, and post it. The catch: posts from protected accounts, the ones with a lock icon, can't be reposted by anyone, so they can't be quoted either.

Below: the four steps, what your followers see, when a quote beats a repost or a reply, and which of the original post's settings your quote leaves behind.

How to quote tweet on Twitter in four steps

To quote tweet on Twitter, you follow the same four steps on x.com and in the iPhone and Android apps. X lists them on its how to repost page.

1. Select the Repost icon under the post. In the app, tap it; on x.com, hover over the post, then click it.
2. Choose the quote option. X's help center labels it Repost as Quote, while the other choice, plain Repost, shares the post with no comment.
3. Write your comment above the embedded post. Attach media if it helps your point: a single GIF, as many as four photos, or one video.
4. Post it. The quote goes out to your followers as a new post, with the original embedded underneath.

Nothing in those steps touches the original. The author's words stay exactly as written inside the embedded card, and only the text above it belongs to you.

Posts X won't let you quote: locked accounts and blocks

The lock icon stops these steps. X's repost FAQ says protected posts can't be reposted by you or anyone else, even if you follow the account and can read them.

Its page on types of posts files quotes as reposts with comment, so the same block applies.

Being blocked by the author stops them too. X's page on blocking and unblocking accounts says a blocked account can still view the public posts of whoever blocked it.

What it can't do is engage with them through likes, replies or reposts. A quote counts as a repost.

What your followers see when you quote on Twitter

Your followers see a quote as a post from you: your name and comment on top, and the original in a bordered card underneath, still carrying its author's name and handle.

X's repost FAQ says quote posts from people you follow show up in your Home timeline, so that's where your followers meet it.

X's own App Store screenshots show the layout, with one account's short comment sitting above the post it quotes in the For You timeline.

The card is live, not a picture. Anyone can tap it to open the original post, read the replies under it and judge your comment against the source.

Where else your quote shows up

Your quote also joins the list of quotes on the original post. In X's current app, that list opens from View quotes on the post's detail page, just under its counts, so people reading the original can find your comment there as well.

That list is worth a look before you post. If ten people have already made your point, a like or a reply on the best of them may do more than an eleventh quote.

A copied post with "RT" typed in front is a different thing.

X's repost FAQ says that manual RT isn't an official X feature. It only signals that someone is quoting another person's post, so nothing ties it to the original the way a real quote does.

Why X may ask you to read an article before you quote it

If the post you're quoting links an article you haven't opened recently on X, a prompt may ask whether you'd like to read it first. X's help page on quoting says the prompt is there to give you context and reduce uninformed sharing, and that you can still quote without opening the article.

The prompt started as a Twitter test on Android that asked "Want to read this before retweeting?", a feature the company said was meant to help promote informed discussion. MIT Technology Review covered the original Android test when it launched.

For a quote, the prompt matters more than for a plain repost. Your comment sits on top of the link, so reading the piece first is what keeps your take tied to what the article says rather than to its headline.

Quote, repost or reply: which one fits what you want to say on X?

Quote when you want your followers to see the post and what you think of it. Repost when the post says it all, and reply when your words are for the author and the people already in that conversation.

The reach differs as much as the tone. X's page on conversations says a public reply reaches the Home timeline only for relevant people, such as those who follow both you and someone taking part.

When you want all your followers to see something, X's own advice is to repost or quote it.

Researchers at the University of Washington found the same split in how people use the two. Their study, To Reply or to Quote, coded replies and quote tweets in the political conversation around Robert Mueller's 2019 congressional testimony.

Replies were aimed at the original author 73.5% of the time, against 43.3% for quote tweets. Quote tweets broadcast the original's message to a different audience 56.7% of the time, against 26.5% for replies.

Choosing by who your words are for

People reply to talk to the author, and they quote to talk to their own audience about the author's post. That makes the choice simple once you know who your words are for:

• Repost when the post needs nothing from you and you want it in your followers' timelines as it is.
• Quote when your view is the point: a correction, extra context, a local angle or a joke.
• Reply when you're answering the author or joining the discussion under their post.
• Quote and mention the author when you want your followers watching and the author answering.

A reply talks to the author. A quote talks to your followers about the author's post.

Say a software company you use posts that a feature is down. Reposting it warns your followers. Quoting it lets you add the workaround you found, while replying under it tells the company, and everyone already asking there, that a workaround exists.

Your quote starts its own conversation on X

Once it's posted, your quote runs on its own settings, not on the original post's.

Reply limits don't carry over. X's conversations page says replies and reposts inherit the reply restrictions an author sets, but quote posts don't.

You can quote a post whose replies are limited to accounts its author follows, and replies to your quote follow your settings, not theirs.

You can limit replies on your quote yourself. After posting, open the quote's More menu (top right) and choose Change who can reply, the same control X gives you on any post.

The author isn't pulled into your replies either. Per X's quoting instructions, people who reply to your quote don't automatically bring the original author into that thread. Mention their @username in the quote if you want them there.

That makes a quote the right tool for commentary you want to own. The discussion under it happens on your post, under your rules, and the author joins only if you invite them or come looking.

Changing or deleting a quote after you post it on X

You can fix a live quote only with X Premium; everyone else deletes it and posts a new one.

X's page on editing posts gives subscribers a 1-hour window to edit original posts and quotes, with up to 5 edits, from the same device they posted from.

The updated quote carries an edited label, anyone can open its earlier versions, and it keeps the engagement it already had.

Deleting works for everyone:

1. Go to your profile and find the quote.
2. Open the quote's More menu, the three dots in its top corner.
3. Choose the delete option, then confirm.

Removal isn't instant everywhere: X warns that copies can hang on in mobile apps showing cached timelines and on third-party sites that cross-posted the quote.

Deleting also leaves the original untouched, so the author's post, its replies and its other quotes stay where they are.

Quote on Twitter when you have something to add

The mechanics take seconds: Repost icon, quote option, comment, post.

What decides whether a quote was worth sending is the line you write above the card.

A repost shares what someone else said; a quote shares what you think of it.

Questions people ask before quoting a post on X

Will the person I quote get a notification?

Usually, yes: X's repost FAQ says the Notifications tab is where people see who reposted or quoted their posts. If your own posts are protected, though, the author sees your quote only if they're one of your approved followers.

This walkthrough on how to see private quote tweets covers that case from the author's side.

Does the quoted post count toward my character limit?

No. X's help center says the original post inside your quote doesn't count toward the character limit, so your comment gets the full 280 characters.

Subscribers to X Premium can write longer quotes, up to the 25,000 characters X allows for longer posts.

Where should an @mention go in a long quote?

In the first 280 characters.

X's page on types of posts says an account mentioned after that point in a longer post currently isn't notified. The same page says that if you limit replies to accounts you mention, those mentions have to sit in the first 280 characters too.

X Premium subscribers can write longer posts in a quote, so tag the author near the top.