See your draft the way followers will: on a phone in light and dark and in a desktop timeline, with your images, links and the 280 character mark.
Images are shown from your device only.
Your Name@yourhandle · now
We rebuilt our onboarding from scratch. Three things changed: 1. One screen instead of five 2. Setup takes one step, not four 3. Nothing posts without your approval Thanks to @yourteam for a month of testing. Full notes at example.com/changelog #buildinpublic
From example.com
Your Name@yourhandle · now
We rebuilt our onboarding from scratch. Three things changed: 1. One screen instead of five 2. Setup takes one step, not four 3. Nothing posts without your approval Thanks to @yourteam for a month of testing. Full notes at example.com/changelog #buildinpublic
From example.com
Your Name@yourhandle · now
We rebuilt our onboarding from scratch. Three things changed: 1. One screen instead of five 2. Setup takes one step, not four 3. Nothing posts without your approval Thanks to @yourteam for a month of testing. Full notes at example.com/changelog #buildinpublic
From example.com
Five steps, read top to bottom like a thread.
Replace the example; the counter weighs links as 23 and emoji as 2.
Type your display name and handle. Nothing is looked up or sent.
Choose the 280 limit, or longer posts if you have X Premium.
Add up to four images from your device to see the grid for that count.
Check phone light, phone dark and desktop: first lines, links and crops.
A standard post holds 280 characters, but X weighs each character. Go over on a standard account and the post cannot be sent; the preview highlights what does not fit.
X Premium allows posts up to 25,000 characters. X does not document where the timeline shortens them, so the preview draws a line at 280: the part you can count on people reading.
| Content | Counts as | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Latin letters, digits, punctuation | 1 | Hello, X! → 9 |
| Emoji, including joined sequences | 2 | 👋🏽 → 2 |
| Chinese, Japanese, Korean | 2 | 日本 → 4 |
| Any link | 23 | example.com → 23 |
| Mentions and hashtags you type | Per character | #launch → 7 |
| Auto mentions at the start of a reply | 0 | Not counted |
| Attached images | 0 | Not counted |
Worked example: the sample draft
Add three emoji and a second link: +29, so at least 292. Over.
People decide in a line or two whether to keep reading, and a phone line holds only a few dozen characters. The frames above show exactly where yours wrap.
Stricter check: the hook grader.
Before
Hey everyone! It has been a busy few months here and we have been working really hard behind the scenes on something we think you are going to love. Today we are finally ready to share it: onboarding now takes one screen instead of five.
After
Onboarding now takes one screen instead of five.
We rebuilt it from scratch over the summer. Here is what changed, and why.
Each piece of the sample draft, and what it costs against the 280.
You can attach up to four photos. X publishes no cell shapes for two to four, so these layouts are a close approximation.
Shown in full between 2:1 and 3:4. The only published rule.
Two tall cells. Wide photos lose their left and right edges.
One tall cell and two small ones. Put the key image first.
Four equal cells, each showing its middle. Match the styles.
Need the image at the right shape first? Use the X image size guide and cropper.
Followers pick their own theme. Text survives both; images often do not.
Run it with the preview open. Image descriptions: X's accessibility guide.
Kairo Post counts characters the way X does and previews every draft, threads included. Approved posts go out through the official X API at your chosen time, exactly once, with the credit price shown first.
Written by Jonas Ben, founder of Kairo Post. Updated .
Connect an account, describe your voice and let Kairo Post do the legwork.