Twitter for iOS now lets you change who can reply to your old tweets

What you need to know

• Users can now change who can reply to a tweet even after it was sent.
• The move is part of Twitter's efforts to make people feel safer on its social network.

Twitter has rolled out a new feature that allows users to change who can and cannot reply to tweets even after they have been sent. The move comes after it first allowed users to change the same setting at the point of tweeting last year — today's move means people can now change the setting retrospectively.

Twitter announced the change via its @TwitterSafety account, showing a screenshot of how the feature will work.

Twitter has been steadily improving the way it handles abuse and this latest move is an example of a feature that is squarely aimed at protecting people who might otherwise receive unwanted replies to tweets. Users can also mark their accounts as private, but this move gives them more granular control over what people can and cannot reply to — although everyone will still be able to see the tweet's content, unlike on private accounts.

After years of coming under fire for its lack of action in regard to abuse, it's good to see Twitter taking steps in the right direction. It still has some way to go, of course, but positive motion is better than no motion at all.

Twitter remains one of the best iPhone apps for staying connected with people, even if the app itself isn't the best Twitter app you can find in the App Store.