Unofficial project. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by X Corp. or Twitter.
Why
X is still one of the fastest places to follow live events and hear directly from domain experts. But the default experience has devolved into heavy information pollution: algorithmic clickbait, sponsored posts, bot amplification, and endless replies from accounts you never chose to follow.
When our daily information diet shapes our worldview, that noise takes a real toll. Half-truths spread faster than corrections, and recommendation engines are optimized to provoke emotional reactions rather than keep us informed. Robin is built to fight this information pollution: preserve the essential signals you actually care about, strip away algorithmic distractions, and give you back control over your attention.
Robin is guided by a few core principles:
- Chronological signal over algorithmic manipulation: A pure Following feed in true reverse-chronological order. No recommendation engine deciding what you see next.
- Promotion-free timeline: Promoted posts and ad clutter are removed so your timeline only reflects the people and publications you follow.
- Keyword filtering: Filter out topics, rage bait or noise by hiding posts containing your choice of keywords.
- Less doomscrolling: An in-feed marker ("You're all caught up") indicates when you have reached posts from your previous visit, giving you a clear stopping point instead of scrolling forever.
- On-demand fact-checking: When a post seems dubious or sensational, long-press it to check claims against live web search evidence and credibility scores powered by generative AI.
Robin is a native Android and iOS client: an x.com WebView with client-side filters. Sign-in happens directly inside the WebView with your normal X cookie session.
How much of For You is actually from people you follow?
To put a number on the noise: we scrolled one logged-in For You home timeline (~87 posts), labeled each item as an ad (explicit "Ad"), checked each author against that account's follow graph, and tallied the mix.
| What you see on For You | Share of posts |
|---|---|
| People you follow | ~10% |
| Algorithmic inserts (accounts you do not follow) | ~70% |
| Network inserts (e.g. "X reposted") | ~1% |
| Ads | ~18% |
In other words, only about one in ten posts on For You came from someone that account chose to follow. Roughly nine in ten were algorithm add-ons, ads, or similar. (One scroll session: your mix will vary, but the shape of the problem is hard to miss.)
I hope Robin helps you stay informed without the mental exhaustion of sorting through noise and distractions.
Architecture: docs/ARCHITECTURE.md · Mobile setup: docs/mobile.md · WebView filters: docs/webview-filter.md · Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md · Security: SECURITY.md
Features
- Following-first feed via filters on x.com (force Following / Latest, hide For You)
- Hide promoted posts, page chrome, compose prompts, and related clutter
- Keyword filtering to hide posts containing specified words or phrases
- In-feed "You're all caught up" divider marking where you left off last visit to reduce doomscrolling
- Long-press any post to fact-check claims with generative AI and live web search evidence
- Text size controls
- Sign out clears the X WebView cookie session
- Optional Sentry and Aptabase (off unless you configure them locally)
Stack
- Android — Jetpack Compose, WebView, minSdk 33
- iOS — SwiftUI, WKWebView, iOS 18+
- Shared filter core adapted from Minimal Twitter (MIT)
Get started
| Platform | Guide |
|---|---|
| Android | docs/mobile.md |
| iOS | docs/mobile.md |
| Store builds | Homebrew Fastlane (fastlane/) — see Fastfile |
Quick Android debug build:
cp android/local.properties.example android/local.properties
# set sdk.dir=…
cd android && ./gradlew :app:assembleDebug
Quick iOS:
cp ios/Config.xcconfig.example ios/Config.xcconfig
open ios/Robin.xcodeproj
Project layout
android/ # Jetpack Compose + x.com WebView
ios/ # SwiftUI + WKWebView
fastlane/ # Play / TestFlight release lanes
docs/mobile.md # Build & configure Android / iOS
docs/webview-filter.md # Injected filter behavior
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
scripts/feed-credibility/ # Collect + score For You vs Following
web/feed-compare/ # Local web UI for that comparison
LICENSE / CONTRIBUTING.md / SECURITY.md / CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
Compare Following and For you
The public X API does not expose For you (its home timeline is reverse-chronological only). This tool reads both timelines from a Chrome window you log into, fact-checks each post with the Credibility Analyzer prompt (Gemini + Google Search), and counts how many it marks misleading.
GEMINI_API_KEY=... node web/feed-compare/server.cjs
Open http://127.0.0.1:8787. The server listens on localhost only. The X login stays in ~/.cache/feed-credibility-profile, and a pasted Gemini key stays in that process.
License
MIT. Feed filters include adaptations from Minimal Theme for Twitter / X (MIT).
