How to Use a Delegated Twitter Account on Mobile

Juggling multiple X (formerly Twitter) accounts on your phone can feel like a tightrope walk without a net - one wrong tap and you’ve posted a personal thought from your brand’s official profile. Thankfully, X has a built-in delegation feature, now called Teams, that lets you and your collaborators manage a single account safely without sharing passwords. This guide walks you through exactly how to set up and use a delegated X account on your mobile device, so you can post on the go with confidence.

Understanding X Teams: Your Gateway to Co-Managed Accounts

At its core, X Teams is a feature designed for collaboration. It allows the owner of an X account to grant access to other users, giving them permission to post, engage, and manage the account on their behalf. This is a game-changer for businesses, agencies, creators, and anyone who doesn't fly solo on social media.

But why not just share the username and password? The classic "shared login" approach belongs in the internet stone age for a few big reasons:

• Security Leaks: Sharing a password is an open invitation for security problems. When someone leaves your team, you have to change the password and communicate it to everyone else. It’s messy, insecure, and relies entirely on trust. With X Teams, you can simply revoke access with a click.
• Lack of Accountability: When everyone uses the same login, there’s no way to tell who posted what. If a mistake is made, it’s impossible to trace it back. Teams separates personal accounts from the shared one, creating a clearer workflow.
• Logistical Headaches: Constantly getting logged out because someone else signed in from a new device? Or triggering security alerts from multiple locations? Shared logins create endless friction. X Teams avoids these annoying interruptions.

By using the official delegation feature, you create a secure and professional environment that protects the main account while empowering your team to contribute effectively.

Before You Start: Know Your Role - Admin vs. Contributor

Before you invite anyone to the team, it's important to understand the two different roles you can assign. Think of it like giving someone a key to your office - some people get a master key, and others get a key that only opens one door.

The Admin: The Master Key Holder

An Admin has almost the same level of power as the original account owner. This is the role you’d give to a trusted co-founder, a lead social media manager, or a key partner. Admins can:

• Tweet, Retweet, Quote Tweet, and reply as the main account.
• Manage Direct Messages (DMs).
• Like and bookmark posts.
• Create and manage Lists.
• Schedule posts.
• View account analytics.
• Most importantly: Invite new Admins and Contributors, and also remove existing team members.

Granting Admin access is a big deal. Only give this role to people who need full operational control of the account's content and team structure.

The Contributor: The Focused Collaborator

A Contributor is a more restricted role, perfect for team members, freelancers, or interns whose primary job is to create and publish content. They have enough access to do their job without being able to make significant changes to the account or its team.

A Contributor can:

• Tweet, Retweet, Quote Tweet, and reply as the main account.
• Send and read Direct Messages.
• Like and bookmark posts.
• Schedule posts.

However, Contributors cannot:

• Invite or remove other team members.
• Edit the account’s profile information.
• Access sensitive account settings like password or email.

For most day-to-day collaborators, the Contributor role strikes the perfect balance between empowerment and security.

The Catch: You Need a Desktop or Laptop to Set Everything Up

Here’s the part that trips most people up: you cannot set up or manage your team directly from the X mobile app. The mobile apps for iOS and Android are designed for using the delegated access once it’s been granted, but the entire invitation and management process must happen on the desktop website. It's a bit of an odd workflow, but knowing this upfront saves a ton of confusion.

Here’s how an Admin can invite someone to their team:

1. Log in on a Desktop Browser: Open your favorite web browser on a computer and go to X.com. Log in to the brand or company account you want to share access to.
2. Navigate to Your Settings: In the left-hand navigation menu, click on "More," then "Settings and privacy."
3. Find the Teams Menu: From here, navigate to "Security and account access," and then click on "Teams." If you have trouble finding it, you can also often go straight to x.com/settings/teams.
4. Invite Your Teammate: You'll see a dashboard for managing your team. Click the "Invite team member" button.
5. Enter Their Username: In the popup, type the exact X username (the @handle) of the person you want to invite. Be careful with spelling!
6. Assign a Role: Choose whether to add them as an "Admin" or a "Contributor" from the dropdown menu.
7. Confirm the Invitation: Click "Invite," and you're done! X will send an invitation to the user you specified.

The person you invited will now receive a notification in their own X account. They will also need to accept this invitation from the desktop version of X to complete the connection.

Success! How to Access and Use Your Delegated Account on Mobile

Once the invitation has been sent and accepted on a desktop, the hard part is over. Now, the invited person can seamlessly switch between their personal account and the delegated account right from their phone. Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Switching Between Your Accounts

The native X app makes this process incredibly simple and intuitive. Gone are the days of logging out and logging back in.

• Open the X App: Launch the app on your iPhone or Android device, making sure you are logged into your personal account (the one that was invited to the team).
• Tap and Hold Your Profile Picture: In the top-left corner of the app, press and hold your profile picture. Don’t just tap it - a long press is the shortcut here.
• See the Account Switcher: A small pop-up menu will appear, showing your personal profile icon and the icon of the delegated account(s) you have access to.
• Select the Delegated Account: Simply tap on the profile you want to use. The app will instantly reload, and you'll see the timeline, notifications, and profile page for that account. Your profile picture in the top-left corner will change to confirm you've successfully switched.

That's it! To switch back to your personal account, just repeat the process: tap and hold the profile picture in the corner and select your own account from the menu.

Pro Tip: If a simple tap on your profile picture opens the side menu, you can also switch by tapping the three-dots icon next to your name at the top of that menu.

Step 2: Posting and Engaging as the Delegated Account

After you’ve switched to the delegated account, you can use the X app just as you normally would. Every action you take is performed on behalf of that brand or company account. You can:

• Compose and send new posts (tweets).
• Reply to other users' posts.
• Like and reshare content.
• Manage the account's DM inbox.
• View notifications for that account.

Before you hit "Post," always take one final glance at the top-left corner to confirm which profile picture you see. Mistakenly posting your thoughts on last night's game from a corporate account happens more often than you’d think. That half-second check can save you from a major headache.

Troubleshooting Common Mobile Delegation Headaches

Even though the system is pretty streamlined, you might run into a few snags. Here are some of the most common issues and how to fix them.

"I Accepted the Invitation, But I Don't See the Delegated Account on My Phone."

This is the most common problem. Here are a few things to try:

• Force Close and Reopen the App: The app might just need a quick refresh to recognize the new permissions. Close it completely and open it again.
• Confirm Acceptance on Desktop: Double-check that you (or the person you invited) officially accepted the invitation by logging in on a desktop computer. Sometimes people miss this step. The access won't appear on mobile until it's been confirmed.
• Check Your Login: Make sure you’re logged into the correct personal X account on the mobile app - the one whose @username was used for the invitation. If you have multiple personal accounts, it's easy to get them mixed up.

"Can I Add or Remove Team Members from the Mobile App?"

Unfortunately, no. Any management of the team itself - inviting new people, removing them, or changing roles from Admin to Contributor - still has to be done through the desktop website at x.com/settings/teams.

"I'm Trying to Edit the Profile or Pin a Post, But I Can't."

If you have this problem, you likely have a Contributor role. Contributors can post content and engage, but they can't make changes to the account's profile (like the bio, header image, or pinned post). If you need to perform these actions, you’ll need to ask an Admin to either make the change for you or upgrade your role to Admin.

Final Thoughts

Using a delegated X account on your phone is a powerful way for teams to stay nimble and active, but the process has one important detail: all setup and management must happen on a desktop. Once you’ve crossed that initial bridge, switching between accounts on the mobile app becomes an effortless, one-second task that keeps your workflow moving and your accounts secure.

While using the native X app for delegated access is perfect for quick replies and on-the-go posts, managing a full content calendar across multiple brands and platforms can get overwhelming. At Postbase, we designed our platform to solve exactly this kind of complexity. Our visual content calendar allows you to schedule posts for all your X accounts right alongside content for Instagram, TikTok, and more, all from a single dashboard. It helps teams collaborate without constant app-switching and the common fear of posting from the wrong profile.