X rebuilds the app: instead of Bookmarks, now History

X continues to rebuild its own ecosystem and introduced a new section called History, which combines almost all user activity inside the program. Now, instead of the usual tab with bookmarks, users get a full-fledged browsing history center, where videos, articles, likes and added publications are automatically saved.

Nikita Bir, the head of the product direction of the platform, announced the launch of the new function. So far, the update is only available for the iOS version of the app, but the approach itself shows that X is gradually moving from a traditional social network model to a media platform format with its own system for storing and re-consuming content.

History as a personal content archive

After the update, the usual Bookmarks tab disappears from the interface and is replaced by a new History section. Inside it, the user sees four categories at once: bookmarks, likes, watched videos and read articles.

The main change concerns automation. If earlier the user had to save publications manually, now part of the content gets into the history automatically. Watched videos and opened articles are saved without additional user actions. Thus, X begins to form a personal digital chronicle of activity within the platform.

At the same time, traditional mechanics do not disappear. Likes and bookmarks still work separately and are added manually, but now they become part of the overall content history system.

X increasingly avoids the concept of a classic social network

The appearance of History is not just a cosmetic change to the interface. The feature reflects a larger transformation of the platform.

In recent years, X has been gradually adding tools that make the service look like a media platform, a news aggregator, a video service, and a personal content hub at the same time. The new section begins to play the role of a kind of history of the browser inside the social network.

The user can now go back to previously viewed content in the same way as it happens on YouTube, TikTok or browsers. This is especially important for a platform with an aggressive algorithmic feed, where posts disappear from view very quickly.

In fact, X is trying to solve one of the old problems of social networks – the inability to quickly find content that the user has already seen before, but did not save manually.

Articles tab as part of new strategy

Analysts paid special attention to the appearance of a separate section with articles. This is directly related to the company’s long-term strategy of keeping the audience within its own ecosystem.

X has long tried to encourage authors to publish long texts directly on the platform, rather than using external links to third-party media. Now the service gets another tool to promote this format.

The user history of read materials makes the platform more like a full-fledged service for reading and consuming media content. This is especially important against the backdrop of global changes in Internet traffic.

External traffic crisis for media

Over the past few years, Google, Meta and other major platforms have significantly reduced the volume of transitions to external sites due to algorithm changes and the development of AI services with ready-made answers within the platforms themselves.

This has become a serious problem for the media: the audience is less and less likely to leave the ecosystems of large services to read materials on external resources.

X is trying to use this situation to his advantage. The company is consistently building a model in which the user receives maximum content directly within the platform – from short posts and videos to full-fledged articles and long texts.

History becomes another tool of this strategy, as it allows the user to return to already viewed content without having to search for it again through external links or search engines.

Map of user behavior inside the platform

Despite the expanded functionality, X emphasizes that the History section remains completely private. Only the account owner has access to it.

However, the new system actually forms a very detailed map of the user’s behavior inside the platform: which videos a person watches, which articles he reads, which publications he returns to and which content he is most interested in.

For the platform itself, this kind of data is extremely valuable, as it allows for much more precise customization of recommendations, advertising and personalization algorithms.