Twitter’s broken third-party apps will be the final straw for many users
Many Twitter fans will conclude that they’re no longer welcome
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Many third-party Twitter apps including Tweetbot have been down for several days –and a new report suggests that the social media network has intentionally suspended the clients. If true, that could be the final insult that sees significant number of hardcore Twitter users leave for fresh pastures.
According some internal Slack messages picked up byThe Information, the continuing outage of clients like Tweetbot and Twitterific “was an intentional suspension”. While those messages didn’t clarify why Twitter was pulling the plug on the services, a strong possibility is because they don’t help drive ad revenue to the network.
Some third-party clients have ad-free versions, which isn’t exactly helpful in a time when Twitter is trying to offset declining ad revenues. But Twitter’s ongoing silence about the issue has poured fuel on the growing outrage about the situation – and that will only grow if it is indeed culling third-party apps on a permanent basis.
The complete absence of communication from Twitter has resulted in some pretty despondent statements from third-party apps. With Tweetbot going down again over the weekend, the client’s co-founder Paul Haddad haswritten on Mastodonthat it’s time to go “on to smaller but greener pastures”.
Twitterific, meanwhile, says “there’s still no official word about what’s going on”, whileTalonstated that it “looks like Twitter has taken out support for Talon” and that it’s “working to see if there will be a solution for this”. The official Twitter account forTweetbot suggests not, stating that “we are honored that so many of you have chosen us as the way to browser Twitter for the past 12+ years”.
We’re trying to get an official answer from Twitter about the apparent suspensions of third-party apps and will update this article if we hear back. But the continuing silence from Twitter’s official account, support account and Elon Musk so far suggests that the lack of communication is an intentional, if misguided, strategy that could ultimately cost it yet more users.
Analysis: Twitter’s rocky relationship with third-party apps comes to a natural end
Twitter has had a difficult relationship with third-party apps for several years now – and it looks increasingly likely that it’s prepared to fully sever ties with them.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
Just over four years ago Twitter disabled several key features in apps like Tweetbot, Twitterific and Talon, including the APIs needed for push notifications. And even going back as far as 2012, the network told developers that they should veer away from making apps that included Twitter’s home timeline.
The reason was because Twitter wanted to focus on growing its native first-party apps. But this also clashed with the developer-friendly environment that helped birth the network and give it its community feel. Many features, including the retweet and hashtag, were actually inspired by ideas from Twitter’s users.
In another timeline, Twitter could have fully embraced the ideas and innovations sparked by outsiders and third parties to help fuel its growth. But under Elon Musk’s stewardship, the social network is increasingly making user-hostile decisions – likehiding its chronological feed.
The seemingly intentional disabling of many third-party apps is another example of that trend – and it could finally see many Twitter users, particularly those who remember its comparatively utopian early days, conclude that they’re no longer welcome. For many, the likes ofMastodonare looking more like home.
Mark is TechRadar’s Senior news editor. Having worked in tech journalism for a ludicrous 17 years, Mark is now attempting to break the world record for the number of camera bags hoarded by one person. He was previously Cameras Editor at both TechRadar and Trusted Reviews, Acting editor on Stuff.tv, as well as Features editor and Reviews editor on Stuff magazine. As a freelancer, he’s contributed to titles including The Sunday Times, FourFourTwo and Arena. And in a former life, he also won The Daily Telegraph’s Young Sportswriter of the Year. But that was before he discovered the strange joys of getting up at 4am for a photo shoot in London’s Square Mile.
New fanless cooling technology enhances energy efficiency for AI workloads by achieving a 90% reduction in cooling power consumption
Your next smartwatch could be battery-free – and powered by your skin
Red One isn’t perfect but it proves we need more action-packed Christmas movies
