Twitter debuts While you were away' posts on iOS, Web version coming soon

Twitter on Wednesday announced "While you were away" recaps, a new feature designed to keep users up to date with the goings on of people they follow by surfacing missed posts in their home timeline.

The announcement, made via Twitter's official blog, notes "While you were away" recaps float to the top of users' feeds based on a number of factors, including single tweet engagement. In theory, the algorithm picks out the most interesting tweets to display, keeping users informed of the latest trends without requiring constant check-ins.

It appears Twitter is attempting to minimize blowback on what could easily become an intrusive feature. The company says users who only check their Twitter feed "now and then" will see more "While you were away" recaps, while those who pop in more frequently will see them less.

So as not to confuse real-time tweets with machine-discovered posts, an issue Twitter says it's keen on avoiding, recaps will appear with a special "While you were away" heading.

Twitter's latest feature addition is scheduled to arrive on iOS today, while Android and Twitter.com users be seeing the recaps pop up in their feeds soon.

Apple iOS device users can download Twitter's official client for free from the App Store.