'Tweetbot 4' Debuts With Universal iPad Support, Split-Screen Multitasking and New Activity View

[Thierry ba]

I already bought this app and they wanna charge me another $4.99 for the update? No way.

 

[netnothing]

Couple of things:

Hoping they give an option on Landscape for iPad to turn off that right column. I don't have any need for it.

And what's with the name of the app under the icon on iPad:

Fugly!

EDIT: Fixed by reinstalling.

-Kevin

 

[MalcolmJID]

Couple of things:

Hoping they give an option on Landscape for iPad to turn off that right column. I don't have any need for it.

And what's with the name of the app under the icon on iPad:

View attachment 588687

Fugly!

-Kevin

I'd look at reinstalling. Not happening on my iPad Mini.

 

[netnothing]

I'd look at reinstalling. Not happening on my iPad Mini.

Thanks. Reinstalled and it's fine now. Wonder if it's because I had 3 installed at the time.

-Kevin

 

[modnar]

Thanks. Reinstalled and it's fine now. Wonder if it's because I had 3 installed at the time.

-Kevin

I didn't have that issue on my iPhone 6s with 3 still installed.

 

[vertsix]

Requires 9.0 and above. That's really going to alienate some people. Bad choice.

Should be compatible with 7.0 and later to get as much people as possible.

 

[ericg301]

I already bought this app and they wanna charge me another $4.99 for the update? No way.

That's like saying I bought a Pumpkin Spice Latte two years ago and want a free refill.

 

[scotty588]

The reality is though that it is only three guys who are developing and supporting the apps. They need to keep money coming in to live off and Twitters token system means they can't afford to just sell it ultra cheap to keep generating new sales. This means that they need to monetise their existing users in order to be able to afford to keep developing.

Same could be argued for a bigger dev team like Rovio and their app is $0.99 but they have a lot more people to pay.

The token thing I can understand and that's most likely why the price is jacked up instead of 99 cents.

Outside of mobile phones you don't expect to get free upgrade to new version of a piece of software, you expected to have to pay to upgrade but often at a special discount.

The past 4 or so versions of OS X have been free upgrades.

Windows 10 has been a free upgrade.

 

[jclardy]

It can... and did for me.

Did you buy a new phone? Likely your accounts are there but not actually logged in.

 

[hobsgrg]

Same could be argued for a bigger dev team like Rovio and their app is $0.99 but they have a lot more people to pay.

The token thing I can understand and that's most likely why the price is jacked up instead of 99 cents.

The past 4 or so versions of OS X have been free upgrades.

Windows 10 has been a free upgrade.

Rovio and others monetise through In App Purchases, there is none in TweetBot (thank god!)

OS X is free because Apple make their money from hardware sales, they can afford to "lose" money on software development.

All other versions of Windows have been a paid for upgrade (unless you bought a PC a few months before the new release). Windows 10 was free because Microsoft are moving to new business model and most of the Windows sales are through volume licensing or new hardware purchases. As most people only upgraded when getting a new machine they had very little to lose to give free upgrade.

 

[scrmtrey]

So u actualy dont buy an app. Its more like rent an app for 5eur, every year.

And also if i restore, i lost the app which i pay for. Hmmm wat?

 

[JackieInCo]

Really? People still JB? Why?

I still Jailbreak to block ads in apps as well as getting unlimited skips in iTunes Radio. I also use iBlacklist to actually stop non phone book calls from even being sent to VM like the built in blocker does.

 

[0970373]

The reality is though that it is only three guys who are developing and supporting the apps. They need to keep money coming in to live off and Twitters token system means they can't afford to just sell it ultra cheap to keep generating new sales. This means that they need to monetise their existing users in order to be able to afford to keep developing.

I did some research on this a while back. The Twitter token limit is 1M but is not cut off at that point. You just have to work w/ Twitter if you go above that. Tweetbot is a best selling app so they have very likely exceeded that.

I also did some math. And even if you use conservative figures for DLs, calculating the amount after Apple takes their cut - for the 2 iPhone (500K each), 1 iPad (500K) and 1 Mac app (250K), they are in the $8M range. I think they're surviving ok. I just want them to take some of that $ and hire some help if they're so busy. Give me better support and I'll gladly keep throwing my $ at you.

 

[stevearm]

Why do Twitter app designers think it's a good idea to have the top header be in white, the same background colour as tweets are. It just makes the whole timeline look a mess.

 

[Abazigal]

Bought and paid the instance I woke up and realised the app is available.

 

[jack 011]

The reality is though that it is only three guys who are developing and supporting the apps. They need to keep money coming in to live off and Twitters token system means they can't afford to just sell it ultra cheap to keep generating new sales. This means that they need to monetise their existing users in order to be able to afford to keep developing. Outside of mobile phones you don't expect to get free upgrade to new version of a piece of software, you expected to have to pay to upgrade but often at a special discount. Apple don't allow an upgrade system though so developers were forced into free upgrades or separate full price.

To be honest I have upgraded and at the moment is no features I need, I have to wait until 3D touch support is added later. I have bought every version and happy to do so because they need the support and in the wider scheme of things the cost is nothing at all, even if it isn't cheap compared to other mobile apps.

So on the iphone can you tell a real difference?

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Looks very nice.

 

[Outsiderdude26]

I did some research on this a while back. The Twitter token limit is 1M but is not cut off at that point. You just have to work w/ Twitter if you go above that. Tweetbot is a best selling app so they have very likely exceeded that.

I would advise you to research the topic better. The token limit for client apps is 100,000.

https://dev.twitter.com/faq#56

The 1 million token limits are for non-client app. Those exclude Tweetbot or Twitteriffic.

https://dev.twitter.com/faq#57

 

[0970373]

I would advise you to research the topic better. The token limit for client apps is 100,000.

https://dev.twitter.com/faq#56

The 1 million token limits are for non-client app. Those exclude Tweetbot or Twitteriffic.

https://dev.twitter.com/faq#57

Either way, Tweetbot is well beyond those limits. An exception has certainly been made. Point is, these guys aren't starving so that reason to purchase the app should be retired. Plenty of other reasons to do so. Or not.

 

[haruhiko]

If the official Twitter app isn't so bad I wouldn't have bought the previous two versions of Tweetbot. But this one I'm not so sure given how few updates the version 3 has had. And it's pulled and inaccessible in "Purchased" of the App Store now.

 

[John.B]

Took an entire year to update and bring iPad support but it finally happened.

Yeah, I dropped the $5, partly because they finally added a universal iPad/iPhone version. IIRC, this was also supposed to happen with version 3 at some future undetermined time...

With the Tweetdeck app long abandoned after being acquired by the Twitteratti, what else is there?

Why do Twitter app designers think it's a good idea to have the top header be in white, the same background colour as tweets are. It just makes the whole timeline look a mess.

Dark mode: Two finger swipe down.

 

[Crusoe]

I don't mind developers charging for an upgrade. I can choose whether to buy or not, and they have a right to try to make some money - if enough people don't like what they do, the message will come across.

That said, I wasn't hugely impressed with Tweetbot 4 for the amount they're charging. Perhaps as an iPhone 6 user I should've read more carefully the changelog, but there's not a lot new for me. The main timeline view hasn't changed other than allowing landscape view. Mentions and DM views haven't changed materially. Searches haven't changed. Profile view is nicer but I'm not sure if it's functionally different. Settings are streamlined.

The two big selling points for me, which are not quite enough to oust Twitterrific:

- Finally, and long overdue, granular mute filters that can be applied to searches and lists
- The excellent stats and activity view, far better than any equivalent in other clients

I was a diehard Tweetbot/Tweetbot 3 user, and I still think it's a very nice app. I'd use it over the official app. But Twitterrific edges it for me. Muffles/mute filters are vastly better. Both have UI pros and cons - Tweetbot looks more 'designed', allows images to be disabled, and has a better dark mode implementation, but has some odd line spacing bugs (which have been in the last couple of versions too) and I'm not a fan of the typeface choices. Twitterrific has more typeface choices, a little more customisation, and (for me) a better menu bar implementation. And, notably, far more regular updates.

 

[Floris]

True, but even at $10, it's something I use multiple times a day so the value is there for me. I'm a big fan of Things.app too!

Even if I would have stopped using Tweetbot, I would have paid for it just to support those guys.
But it creates hesitation I have to admit, when I already own the app, and then to pay again, and then more than I anticipated, and I think to myself, maybe I will wait for it to go on sale, .. to find it that is the price when it IS on sale.

 

[kiwidesign]

If the official Twitter app isn't so bad I wouldn't have bought the previous two versions of Tweetbot. But this one I'm not so sure given how few updates the version 3 has had. And it's pulled and inaccessible in "Purchased" of the App Store now.

Honestly I'm quite pissed with Tapbots. It's not the "I'm not paying for an update!" thing, but honestly they've proven to be quite a lazy and unreliable developer concerning updates to their apps (and yep, this includes bug-fixes too).
The biggest selling point for Tweetbot 4 is its (long-awaited) iPad app, but being an iPhone 5 user I have no interest in that, and the only reason to update would be the activity tab, for which the official Twitter client does a better job.

I had a laugh seeing a recent screenshot from Paul Haddad (Tweetbot's main developer) that featured his iPhone's home screen, with the first page devoted to Tapbots apps... apps which for the most part (likely all of them save for Tweetbot) aren't even been updated for the iPhone 5's four inches screen.

 

[scrmtrey]

I dont know if all other twitter app suck or it is just me, because im used to tweetbot.

But i already buy second and third "major" version. So the money is not an issue, it is their selling model which pisses me off. (and ignorance)

And the problem with this model is, they are gonna use it because people buy the app, all over again, every year. (so they see it as a big success)

Im pretty sure in the end i will buy it again. Just because all other apps suck. And btw 5EUR should be full price and 2.5EUR 50% limited price.