Farewell Twitterrific?

 

Ollie is sad…

About 48 hours ago, the primary way that I access Twitter shutdown. The venerable but still sprightly Twitterrific iOS app lost its API connections that allow it to talk to Twitter. It appears to be a deliberate move from the social media site, but there have been no announcements or communication to the developers. Previously, when the API got changed to limit some functionality to Twitter’s own applications, the developers were briefed in advance. This time, nothing. The only reason it’s thought that it’s a deliberate choice is that there have been leaks from Twitters internal comms. The changes affect the most popular third party connections; Tweetbot as also down. Ironically, at the moment, the macOS version of Twitterrific still works.

It’s suspected that if deliberate, the disconnection happened because the apps allow you to see a linear timeline without promoted posts and advertising driven by the algorithm that now drives the feed that Twitter gives you. Of course, that was the attraction of these apps. Ironically, the previous changes to Twitter’s APIs meant I have their app installed too because it’s the only way to get notifications. This means I get to use their UI pretty regularly, get shown the adverts etc so the reality is that the company isn’t really loosing out.

I’ve loved using Twitterrific; it was an app I got into when I first got into Twitter and had recently become a dad. We used to have Saturday Morning Dad’s club chats on it and more. It has a lovely interface and I will miss it. I’d started to move away from Twitter to Mastodon anyway (which feels like a lovely blend between Google+ and Twitter) and this will only accelerate that move. Once the macOS app goes, so am I (but I’ve left a trail of breadcrumbs in my usernames on Twitter).

As well as its great UI, Twitterrific actually invented the term tweets and created a bird logo which inspired Twitter’s own. It’s an app intimately tied to the history of the service, and it seems almost apt that as the new owner of Twitter burns it down, Twitterrific disappears into memory lane, much loved and missed.

I do hope that the Iconfactory produce an Olliphant app for Mastodon.

Farewell, and thank you.

15 January 2023

Edit: it was deliberate. They killed the entire third party client ecosystem.