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How to See When Someone Joined Twitter (Exact Date, 2026)

See when someone joined Twitter: the Joined line on any X profile, the exact second from one API call, and the user ID trick we tested on brand accounts.


Published · Updated · 7 min read

Cover image: Some IDs hold the join date

To see when someone joined Twitter, open their X profile and read the "Joined" date near the bio.

That line gives the month and year for any public account on X (Twitter). This guide also gets you the exact day and second, from an API call or from the account's user ID. We run Weir, the API in Step 3.

Get the exact second for any public account with one call:

curl https://api.weirapp.io/v1/x/users/Snap \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $WEIR_API_KEY"
  1. Open the profileOn x.com or in the X app.
  2. Read the Joined dateMonth and year, near the bio.
  3. Tap it"About this account" opens.
  4. Get the exact timeCall the API, or decode the user ID.

Step 1: See when someone joined Twitter on their profile

The fastest way to see a Twitter join date is the Joined line on the profile. Open the account on x.com or in the app, and look under the name and bio.

An archived copy of @NASA's profile reads "Joined December 2007." That is all the profile gives you: a month and a year.

For your own account, you can see more. X's Help Center says your account data includes "your account creation details." Find it under Settings and privacy, then Your account.

Step 2: Tap "Joined" to open "About this account"

Clicking the joined date opens "About this account," per X's Help Center. The same page says the screen is public when the account is public.

TechCrunch's launch report lists what you'll see:

  • "The account's original join date," in TechCrunch's words.
  • Where the account is based, which X infers from "aggregated IP addresses," per its Help Center.
  • How many times the username has changed.
  • How it connects, such as the app store the X app came from.

Our guide to what "account based in" means covers each label and when it is wrong.

Step 3: How to check when a Twitter account was created, to the second

An API call returns the exact creation time, in UTC. Weir's profile endpoint, GET /v1/x/users/{user}, takes a username or a numeric ID.

We ran the curl above on @Snap on 22 October 2026. Here is the reply, trimmed:

{
  "id": "751560747566510081",
  "username": "Snap",
  "name": "Snap Inc.",
  "createdAt": "2016-07-08T23:37:00.000Z",
  "protected": false
}

So Snap Inc. joined X at 23:37 UTC on 8 July 2016. Its profile only says July 2016.

3 creditsone Weir profile lookup
$0.010one user read on X's own API
5,000free Weir credits every month

The call cost 1 credit, plus 2 for the profile. The free credits cover over 1,600 lookups a month, with no card.

X's own API has the same field, created_at. You have to ask for it in user.fields, and X's pricing page lists $0.010 per user read, as of October 2026.

Step 4: Read the join date from the user ID

Newer accounts carry their creation time inside their user ID. X's docs say its IDs come from a system called Snowflake, and the top bits are a timestamp.

To decode one, shift it right by 22 bits and add X's epoch. That epoch is a moment on 4 November 2010, counted in milliseconds:

from datetime import datetime, timezone

def id_to_time(user_id):
    ms = (int(user_id) >> 22) + 1288834974657
    return datetime.fromtimestamp(ms / 1000, timezone.utc)

print(id_to_time("751560747566510081"))
2016-07-08 23:37:00.200000+00:00

That matches @Snap's createdAt to the second, with no API call.

Older accounts don't work this way. Their IDs came from a plain counter, so the math lands on 4 November 2010 for all of them.

We found when the switch happened with archived profiles from the Wayback Machine and our own calls:

Account Joined ID digits ID holds the date
@NASA 19 Dec 2007 8 No
@OpenAI 6 Dec 2015 10 No
@LaLaLand 4 Jan 2016 10 No
@ArrivalMovie 14 Jun 2016 18 Yes
@Snap 8 Jul 2016 18 Yes

So the change came between January and June 2016. X never gave a date that we could find. Its 2013 developer post only said user IDs would move to 64-bit numbers.

The rule you can use: an ID with 18 or 19 digits holds the time, and a shorter one doesn't.

Our free tweet ID to date tool decodes post IDs and long user IDs alike. Our user ID lookup guide shows free ways to get the ID.

Check join dates for a list of accounts

A short loop saves the exact date for each account to a CSV file. Set WEIR_API_KEY first.

import csv, os, requests

headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['WEIR_API_KEY']}"}
accounts = ["NASA", "Snap", "github"]

with open("join_dates.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
    out = csv.writer(f)
    out.writerow(["username", "id", "createdAt"])
    for name in accounts:
        r = requests.get(f"https://api.weirapp.io/v1/x/users/{name}",
                         headers=headers, timeout=60)
        if r.status_code != 200:
            continue  # 404: suspended or gone; failed calls cost nothing
        user = r.json()["data"]
        out.writerow([user["username"], user["id"], user["createdAt"]])

Each account costs 3 credits. Already hold user IDs? GET /v1/x/users?ids= takes up to 100 in one call, billed at 2 credits per profile plus 1 for the call.

If it doesn't work

  • You get a 404. Weir's docs say that means the account doesn't exist or is suspended.
  • The account is protected. Its profile stays public, join date included, and Weir returns it. Only its posts are hidden.
  • The decoded date is 4 November 2010. The ID predates the 2016 switch, so use the profile or the API.
  • The username changed. Look the account up by its numeric ID instead, which never changes.

When not to use Weir

  • You check one account. The Joined line and "About this account" are free on X.
  • You check thousands of profiles. TwitterAPI.io's pricing page lists bulk lookups at 1 credit each, with 100,000 credits to the dollar, as of October 2026. That's 20 to 40 times below our rate.
  • You need a contract with X. X's own API returns created_at at $0.010 per user.
  • You want to post or follow. Weir is read-only and reads public data only.

Weir isn't licensed by X, so access can change. X's Terms of Service say you "cannot scrape the Services without X's express written permission," so check what applies to you. This isn't legal advice.

FAQ

How do you see when someone joined Twitter?

Open their profile on X and read the "Joined" line near the bio. It shows the month and year. Tap it to open "About this account," which adds where the account is based and how often its username changed.

Can you see the exact date someone joined Twitter?

Not on the profile, which stops at the month. An API returns the exact second as createdAt or created_at. For accounts made since mid-2016, you can also decode the user ID for free.

How do I check when my Twitter account was created?

Read the Joined line on your own profile for the month. For more, X's Help Center says your account data, under Settings and privacy, then Your account, shows your account creation details.

Does a Twitter user ID show when the account was created?

Only for newer accounts. In our checks, IDs with 18 or 19 digits held the exact creation time, starting in the first half of 2016. Older, shorter IDs were a counter and hold no date.

Is there a free Twitter join date checker?

Yes, for newer accounts: paste the user ID into our tweet ID to date tool. Circleboom's join date checker gives the full date too, but its page says you log in and connect your X account first. For older accounts, use an API.

Sources

All checked on 22 October 2026:

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