Twitter's 140-character limit is going away, at least for the private messages users send on the service, The Verge reports.

As promised, the company said Wednesday, Aug 12 that it will now allow messages of up to 10,000 characters in its mobile apps, desktop apps, and the web. It will also work in third-party apps, such as Tweetbot, the company says.

"It's the No. 1 request we get from folks," said Sachin Agarwal, product manager for DMs, in an interview. "They want to be able to say what's on their mind and be themselves."

After neglecting the feature for years, Twitter began rolling out improvements to direct messages when Kevin Weil took over the product organization last fall. The company restored the ability to send links, added group and photo messaging, and began letting users share tweets natively inside the messages.

The idea, Agarwal says, is to make DMs the place where you talk about the stuff you see on Twitter. "We want to make sure you can really fluidly move between public and private," he says.

Among other things, removing the 140-character cap on messages makes it easier for businesses to conduct customer service over DMs.