Now that Twitter has confirmed that it is banning third-party clients, some of the more well-known alternatives are disappearing. Tapbots has halted work on Tweetbot, one of the most popular iOS apps, after Twitter rendered it inoperable “on the fly.” The developer is switching to Ivory instead, an app for the open social platform Mastodon. While it’s limited to an invite-only test for now, Tapbots hopes to make the software “better than Tweetbot could ever be.”
This isn’t the only major Twitter app developer to quit. The Iconfactory has removed Twitterrific from the iOS and macOS app stores and branded Musk-era Twitter as a company it “no longer recognizes”.[s] Trusted.” Android users, on the other hand, can’t rely on apps like Matteo Villa’s Fenix (it’s no longer available on Google Play) or Luke Klinker’s Talon (which the creator warns “will stop working”).
The shutdowns follow about a week of disruption and unclear messaging. Numerous third-party apps suddenly stopped working around the evening of January 12, with leaks suggesting this was intentional. Twitter later admitted it broke those apps, ostensibly to enforce “longstanding” developer rules. The social media giant then quietly updated its developer agreement to officially ban unofficial clients.
Third-party Twitter clients generally haven’t played much of a role in recent years. In 2018, Sensor Tower found that 6 million users had alternatives installed, versus 560 million for the official Android and iOS apps. However, the ban doesn’t help Twitter retain users and protect the bottom line. Third-party app users have downloaded their software of choice precisely because they are active and want features that the official apps don’t offer (e.g. more powerful media previews and searches). Twitter’s policy risks alienating those users who hate the first-party app.
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