How to Turn On Follower-Only Chat on Twitch
It isn't a switch. It is a clock: how long someone must have followed before they can type. That one detail is why it works against a sudden wave of new accounts.
How to turn on follower only chat on Twitch: open your chat, click the chat settings gear, choose followers-only chat, and pick a duration. The duration is the minimum time someone must have followed your channel before they can type. You can also do it from chat with a command, /followers followed by a duration such as 10m or 1d, and turn it off with /followersoff.
The duration is what makes the setting useful. At zero, anyone who follows can chat immediately, which only stops people who have not clicked follow. At ten minutes, a day or longer, it stops accounts that followed recently, including accounts that followed seconds ago precisely to get into chat. Your moderators and VIPs are not affected, and neither are you.
Most chat restrictions on streaming platforms are binary: subscribers only, or not; emotes only, or not. Twitch's followers-only mode is different in kind, because it reads a date. Every follow on Twitch carries a timestamp, and this setting compares that timestamp with the present moment before letting a message through.
That is what makes it effective against the situation it is most often used for. When a channel is hit by a wave of new accounts, whether a coordinated group of people or automated follow-bots, following is the cheapest possible step for them. A chat that requires only a follow is barely a barrier. A chat that requires a follow at least a day old shuts every one of those accounts out, however many of them there are, because none of their follows are old enough. The channel's existing community, whose follows are weeks or years old, keeps chatting without noticing anything.
It also means the setting is indifferent to why an account followed. A viewer who discovered you tonight and genuinely wants to say hello is held back by the same clock as a troll. That is the trade the streamer is choosing when they pick a duration.
How to turn on follower only chat on Twitch, step by step
There are three places to set it. Use whichever is closest to hand.
From the chat settings
In your channel's chat, click the gear icon to open chat settings, choose followers-only chat, and select a duration. The preset options run from zero, meaning any follower, up to three months, with steps in between such as ten minutes, an hour, a day and a week. The mode takes effect immediately and a notice appears in chat.
With a chat command
Type /followers with a duration, for example /followers 10m or /followers 1d, to turn it on with that requirement. Type /followers on its own for any-follower mode, and /followersoff to turn it off. Moderators can use these commands too, which is the fastest option during a live incident.
From the Creator Dashboard
The moderation settings in the Creator Dashboard include followers-only chat, so you can set the mode and duration without being in chat. This is also where to look if you want to review all your chat restrictions together.
Which duration should you pick?
It depends on what you are trying to stop.
- Zero, any follower: stops people who have not followed at all. Useful for keeping out drive-by accounts that never intend to follow, and nothing more.
- Ten to thirty minutes: stops people who follow and immediately start typing. A common everyday setting that lets new viewers join the conversation later in the same stream.
- One day to one week: stops accounts created or pointed at your channel today. The usual choice during or after a hate raid or a follow-bot wave.
- One month or longer: effectively limits chat to your established community. Rarely used as a default, because genuinely new viewers cannot talk at all.
Who can still chat in followers-only mode?
The broadcaster, moderators and VIPs are not restricted by it. That is by design: the people you trust to keep chat in order must always be able to speak. Check your chat settings for how the channel treats subscribers, since some streamers prefer paying supporters to be able to chat regardless of follow age.
Everyone else is measured by the clock. A viewer who does not meet the requirement sees a notice in the chat box telling them the channel is in followers-only mode and, where relevant, how long they must have followed. They can still watch; they just cannot type until their follow is old enough.
What followers-only mode does not block
It does not remove anyone, and it does not stop anyone from following. A wave of new follows still lands on your follower count; the setting only keeps those accounts quiet. If you want the follows themselves gone, the only tool is blocking, and how to remove a follower on Twitch explains why a block deletes the follow permanently.
It also does not stop accounts that followed long ago. Someone who followed a year ago and decides to cause trouble tonight passes the check. Other tools cover that: timeouts, bans, blocked terms, slow mode, and Twitch's Shield Mode, which lets you switch on a stricter set of chat settings you prepared in advance with one action. Twitch also offers chat verification settings that can require a verified email or phone number, or a minimum account age, which targets new accounts rather than new follows.
Followers-only chat and follow age
The setting reads the same timestamp as the follow age that chat bots print when someone types !followage. How to see your follow age on Twitch explains where that date is stored and who can now read it. If a regular viewer tells you they cannot chat in followers-only mode, the most common reason is that they unfollowed and followed again at some point, which reset their follow date to the day they followed back.
This also explains an effect streamers sometimes notice after a surge of new followers, whatever the source. Every one of those follows starts at zero. With a duration set, none of those accounts can chat until the clock runs, and that includes followers from a raid, from a shoutout, and any Twitch followers added to the channel's count. The setting is not about who the follower is; it is only about how old the follow is.
When to leave it off
For a small channel trying to grow, a long follower requirement has a real cost. New viewers who arrive and want to say something are the people most likely to come back, and a chat that tells them to wait a day turns many of them away. Twitch's discovery depends on concurrent viewers, and a lively chat is one of the reasons viewers stay; how to get more viewers on Twitch goes into what brings them in the first place.
A practical pattern is a short duration by default, or none, with a longer one ready to switch on the moment something goes wrong. Moderators with the command memorized can respond in seconds, and the restriction can be lifted just as quickly when things calm down.
Questions people ask about followers-only chat
How do I turn on follower only chat on Twitch?
Open chat settings with the gear icon, choose followers-only chat and select a duration. Or type /followers with a duration, such as /followers 10m, in your chat. Use /followersoff to turn it off.
What does the duration in followers-only mode mean?
It is how long an account must have followed your channel before it can chat. At zero, any follower can chat; at one day, only accounts that followed at least a day ago can.
Do moderators and VIPs need to follow to chat?
No. The broadcaster, moderators and VIPs are not restricted by followers-only mode.
Can I set followers-only chat on mobile?
Yes. The chat settings in the mobile app include the mode, and the /followers command works from any chat box.
Why can't a long-time follower chat in followers-only mode?
Most often they unfollowed and followed again, which resets the follow date. The mode reads the date of the current follow, not the first one.
Does followers-only mode stop hate raids?
It stops accounts that followed recently from chatting, which covers most raids built on new follows. It does not stop older accounts, so combine it with other chat tools.
Keep reading
- Twitch followers — Every new follow starts its clock at zero, including Twitch followers added to a channel's count.
- How to see your follow age on Twitch — The follow timestamp this setting reads, and who can see it.
- How to remove a follower on Twitch — Why blocking is the only removal, and why unblocking restores nothing.