What account and privacy settings are available on TextWall?

Updated

TextWall offers two layers of controls: account settings that apply to your identity across the site, and per-wall settings that control who can see and interact with a specific wall. You can register a username, change it, change your password, or delete your account entirely. For any wall you own, you can make it read-only, private, hide cursors, disable chat, restrict it to registered users, mark it unlisted, or flag it NSFW. Display options like anonymous IDs and display names affect how much other people can see about you while you type.

Account settings

These are the options listed under the account area:

Setting What it does
Register Create an account with a username and password
Log in Sign in with your username and password
Change username Set a new username
Change password Requires your old password, then a new password entered twice
Delete account Removes your account (requires your password)
Log out Ends your session

Registration asks for a username, a password, and the password again. The site explicitly warns "don't forget it," which suggests there is no self-service password recovery flow described on the page — treat your password as something you need to keep.

If you don't register, you can still use the site as "Anonymous." The page shows a "Logged in as Anonymous" state with a log out option, so anonymous use is a real mode, not just a placeholder.

Wall settings (for walls you control)

These appear under "Wall Settings" and apply to an individual wall:

  • Read-only — visitors can view but not type.
  • Private — restricts access to the wall.
  • Hide cursors — other users' cursors are not shown.
  • Disable chat — turns off the chat feature for that wall.
  • NSFW — marks the wall as Not Safe For Work. Visitors then see a warning: "This wall has been marked as NSFW (Not Safe For Work) by its creator. It may contain content that is inappropriate for certain audiences," with "I understand" and "No thanks" buttons.
  • Registered users only — only logged-in users can participate.
  • Disable color — removes color from text.
  • Disable braille — turns off braille output.
  • Unlisted (not shown in Explore) — the wall won't appear in the public Explore listing.
  • Enable webhook — connects the wall to a webhook; the page points to ~textwall/webhooks for usage instructions and shows an API Key field.
  • Add members — add specific users to the wall.
  • Delete wall (DANGEROUS!) — permanently removes the wall.

The NSFW flag matters for privacy in a practical sense: it doesn't hide the wall, but it gates it behind a confirmation screen so visitors opt in before seeing content.

Visibility and display options

Under "Options," these control what you and others see while typing:

  • Show other cursors — toggle whether other people's cursors appear.
  • Show name tags — toggle whether names are shown next to cursors.
  • Show anonymous IDs — controls whether anonymous users are identified by an ID.
  • Show display name — controls whether your display name is visible.
  • Show chat / Show typing feedback / Send typing indicator in chat — control chat visibility and whether others see that you're typing.
  • Show FPS / Show ping — performance readouts, not privacy settings, but they're in the same panel.

The combination of Show name tags, Show anonymous IDs, and Show display name is what determines how identifiable you are to others on a wall. If you want to type without being tied to a name, turning off display name and name tags is the relevant control; anonymous IDs are a separate toggle if you want to stay unlinked even as an anonymous user.

Reporting and moderation

The Report section lets you report users or walls that violate the rules. One condition is stated plainly: you can't submit a report if you're not logged in. The form takes a username or wall name and a reason. So if you want the ability to report, you need an account.

What to check before you start

  • Decide whether you need an account at all — anonymous use works, but reporting and account-level controls require registration.
  • If you own a wall and want it out of public discovery, use Unlisted; if you want it gated behind a warning, use NSFW; if you want to limit participation, use Registered users only or Private.
  • If you're joining someone else's wall and care about visibility, check the Options panel for name tags, display name, and anonymous IDs before you type.

The page doesn't state pricing or payment details, so nothing here should be read as free-versus-paid — those signals simply aren't present in the available material.