This iOS shortcut allows you to distinguish Twitter verified badges

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Shortly after acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk began a quest to kill the legacy blue check badge that was known for differentiating verified accounts from media and government personalities. Over the course of this quest, Musk had to change and take a less unfriendly approach. Now, Twitter offers the verified badge for those paying for a Twitter Blue subscription. It’s not easy to distinguish those who have the badge because they pay, from those who have the legacy badge. However, those on iOS have a workaround that can tell the truth about Twitter users. That certainly is neat when you’re trying to distinguish accounts.

It’s possible to distinguish Twitter-verified badges with iOS “Checkmate’ shortcut

Twitter wants to improve the current badge to make sure that subscribers of Blue won’t make fake accounts to trick users. But right now, the so-called security system is not really active. For now, you can use the iOS shortcut to make sure you’re following/interacting with an actual public personality, rather than just a fake account that has the verified badge thanks to the Twitter Blue subscription. Of course, this is just a scenario of utility.

Previously, Twitter used to show the message: “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable”. Now, it shows: “It’s verified because it’s a subscriber to Blue or is a legacy verified account”. With that, it’s impossible to determine whether this is a legacy verification or just a Twitter Blue badge.

(Image Credit: 9to5Mac)

Originally, the goal of the verified badge was to confirm the identity and authenticity of some accounts. As we’ve told above, it makes it easy for users to know when they are interacting with real notable people, like influencers, journalists, politicians, etc. The new Twitter Blue badge just makes everything an ambiguous mess. Thankfully, it’s possible to differentiate things slightly on iOS.

In case you want to be 100% sure of the accounts you’re following, or people you’re interacting with, there is a new “Checkmate” shortcut on iOS. It was created by Mike Beasley and allows users to identify whether the blue seal on a specific account is legitimate or comes from Twitter Blue. The dev states that “Checkmate will allow you to see through Twitter’s nonsense and find out exactly how someone got verified”.

You just need to add the Checkmate shortcut to your iOS device. Then, you need to open social media and pick the account you want to check, and share it with the Checkmate shortcut. After a few seconds, it will show whether the verified badge of that account is legacy or from Twitter Blue. Interestingly, there is some support for “History”. Checkmate can even tell if an account was verified in the past and is now a Blue subscriber.

Elon Musk wants everyone to pay for a Blue Badge verification

Elon Musk’s goal is to remove the verified badge from those who are not paying for Twitter Blue. This is another move in Musk’s campaign to make Twitter profitable. However, this does not seem to be playing a good effect. The company recently lost value, and is now reportedly worth about $20 million, which is half of what Musk had paid for it. Anyway, this does not seem to change Musk’s course at the helm.

The executive states that he is giving non-paying users “a few weeks’ grace” before removing their badges. The actual reason would be that removing the verified badges would require extensive manual work. This should be a problem for a company that laid off many of its employees. Worth noting that Musk deleted the tweet shortly after publishing it.

The goal seems to be of improving things for Twitter Blue subscribers, but to compromise it for those who are not paying. Twitter will soon stop recommending tweets from non-Blue users. Further, these users should also be blocked from voting in polls in the future. The goal here is not to offer an extended experience with the paid subscription. Musk’s goal seems to make free Twitter use a lackluster experience for those who have been using the platform for years.

Getting back to the verification system, Musk states that it was misleading and unfair. We are curious to see when exactly the new policy that allows anyone to have a Twitter Blue badge, as long as they pay for it, will become the standard.