Twitter appears to be testing a feature that would allow users to block someone’s tweets and retweets from their timeline, while still appearing as a follower. Both iOS and Andriod users of the social media platform have recently reported seeing this so-called “mute” option available.

Individuals chosen to test this new feature can do so by visiting any user’s profile on the mobile app and clicking the gear icon.  The mute option will appear at the top of the menu, if available, PC Mag reports.

Although Twitter has declined to comment on the rumor, the company did point to a September 2013 statement from engineering VP Alex Roetter, announcing that Twitter would be experimenting with new features.

“It’s rare for a day to go by when we’re not releasing at least one experiment,” said Roetter. “You may see some features that your friend doesn’t see, or vice versa.”

Long a standard component of third-party twitter clients, muting is reportedly among the most popular features in Tweetdeck, according to the Verge. Another client, Tweetbot, lets users not only mute accounts for various lengths of time, but also enables muting entire apps, like Foursquare.

Twitter’s recent experiment with muting does not seem quite so extensive. Observers point out that the feature will not block direct messages or notifications via tagging.

Still, the ability to block someone you cannot stand, but are socially or professionally obligated to follow, would seem to be useful to nearly everyone. But there is no guarantee the feature will be released more widely.

“Ultimately, our goal is to learn and keep making the product better,” said Roetter. “We aren’t necessarily looking to launch all of the experiments we roll out.”