How to Open or Hide Chat on Twitch
Twitch chat isn’t for everyone. If you’re happy to sit back and watch, you can open or hide Twitch chat using the steps in this guide.
If you’re watching a Twitch streamer, you’ll fit into one of two categories. You’re either chatty and willing to engage in chat with streamers and other users. Alternatively, you’re a lurker who enjoys watching streamers, but doesn’t want to engage in their chat at all.
There’s nothing wrong with lurking—it’s a fine Twitch tradition that still supports the streamer. However, if you don’t want to chat, you might not want to see the open chat menu at all. This is especially true if you’re watching a stream with a large audience, where offensive messages could start to filter through too often for your liking.
If you’re unsure how to hide chat on Twitch (or open it again afterward), follow these steps.
How to Open or Hide Chat on Twitch on PC or Mac
If you decide to watch a Twitch stream on a PC or Mac via the Twitch website, then the chat panel will appear to the right of the stream itself.
You might also see the Twitch chat integrated into the stream itself. Unfortunately, you can’t hide this—this is at the streamer’s discretion. However, you can hide the chat panel on the right, closing and re-opening it at will.
To open or hide Twitch Chat on a PC or Mac:
- Open the Twitch website from your web browser and sign in (if you aren’t already).
- Visit a live Twitch streamer’s profile page and begin watching their stream.
- In the live Twitch stream, the chat panel appears on the right. To hide it, hover over the live Twitch stream video and click Collapse in the top right.
- To open the Twitch chat again, click Expand in the top right. The panel will open again.
You can close the Twitch chat and re-open it as many times as you like. However, when the Twitch chat is closed, you’ll miss any messages sent in the meantime. This is because the connection to the Twitch chat is closed when the panel is closed.
You’ll need to keep the Twitch chat panel open to ensure you don’t miss any messages. If you do, sorry—there’s no way to skip back, but you can also type in a message to see what you missed.
How to Open or Hide Chat on Twitch on Mobile Device
You can also hide Twitch chat using the Twitch mobile app for Android, iPhone, and iPad users (as well as open it again).
Unlike Twitch chat on PC and Mac, a closed Twitch chat panel does not always close the connection. This means that you should be able to catch up with any messages you miss in the meantime, even if you closed the panel previously.
However, this isn’t always guaranteed. If you exit the app at any point, the chat connection will probably close until you return. The only way to guarantee that you’ll always see these messages is to keep your Twitch app open with a live stream playing until the stream ends.
To open or hide Twitch chat on a mobile device:
- Open the Twitch app on your Android, iPhone, or iPad device and sign in (if you aren’t already).
- Visit a live Twitch streamer in the Twitch app and begin playing their stream.
- To hide Twitch chat, you’ll need to switch to landscape mode so that the live stream takes up your entire screen (and hides the chat in the process). To do this, tap the live stream to view the stream options, then tap the rotate icon in the bottom right.
- Twitch will switch to landscape mode, and the chat will disappear after a few seconds. To view it again, tap the live video to view your on-screen menu options. You’ll briefly see the channel description beneath the video, but it’ll disappear again after a few seconds.
- To permanently open the Twitch chat, you’ll need to switch to portrait mode. To do this, tap the live video and tap the rotate icon in the bottom-right corner.
Making Twitch Work For You
You don’t have to start chatting if you join a Twitch stream—it’s fine to sit back and watch. If you decide to hide the chat on Twitch, you can follow the steps above to do it.
Need to update your Twitch account details? You can change almost all your Twitch settings, including your email address and your Twitch banner image. You might also want to unfollow Twitch streamers that you’ve stopped enjoying.
If it all becomes too much, you can also try and become invisible on Twitch, although the process isn’t as simple as it used to be. If you decide to re-open Twitch chat, you can also update your Twitch name color to make yourself stand out more (or fade into the background). You can also change your Twitch name.
