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X (Twitter) has rolled out a set of widgets for its iOS app, enabling users to add feeds to their Home screen as well as a real-time notification count to their Lock Screen.

x-twitter-widgets@2x.jpg

The Home screen widget offers only one kind, called "X News Highlights," which displays headlines of what's trending on the social media platform. The widget is available in three sizes.

There's more to be said for the Lock Screen widgets, which all come in larger and smaller kinds. "X Notifications" shows the user's notification count, while "X Messages" displays the number of unread messages in X Chat (encrypted DMs). There are also two Grok AI widgets, one for jumping straight into chat and one for voice conversations.

Apple actually teased Twitter Home screen widgets at WWDC 2020 during its iOS 14 preview, but they never came to anything, until now.

X/Twitter used to be the go-to place for breaking news and real-time information, but changes to the platform brought about by owner Elon Musk have been criticised for causing feeds to be increasingly awash with fake accounts, AI slop, and misinformation.

Article Link: X App for iOS Now Includes Widgets for Lock Screen and Home Screen
 
X (Twitter) has rolled out a set of widgets for its iOS app, enabling users to add feeds to their Home screen as well as a real-time notification count to their Lock Screen.

The Home screen widget offers only one kind, called "X News Highlights," which displays headlines of what's trending on the social media platform. The widget is available in three sizes.
What's trending on X / Grok is usually lies and misinformation.
 
People still use X?

When Musk took over and started firing staff it was immediately noticeable. In the space of a month I went from 1-2 spam private messages or spam replies to my tweets a month, to literally 10-20 a day.

I ended up leaving when pretty much every tweet Musk made would be at the top of my feed despite having his account blocked.
 
I'm still using a working third party app with my own API key. Can't believe it's still working so long after they cut the big ones off. No ads, no algorithms, just a chronological feed of accounts I follow.
 
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Probably the worst social network. It’s such an unpleasant environment every time I go there I need a detox. And it’s not a political thing. Every popular tweet is full of clout chasers, bots, and the real people are buried miles below

I hope they all stay there and I can keep enjoying bluesky and mastodon
 
When Musk took over and started firing staff it was immediately noticeable. In the space of a month I went from 1-2 spam private messages or spam replies to my tweets a month, to literally 10-20 a day.

I ended up leaving when pretty much every tweet Musk made would be at the top of my feed despite having his account blocked.

It consistently amazes me how there's somehow consensus in the media that Twitter/X still works despite the bare-bones staff. Like it "works" in that it's still up, but the day-to-day functionality is horrible—videos don't load, feeds don't populate, it randomly signs you out, etc.—to say nothing of the scams, spam, and contemptible content.
 
Got permanently suspended recently and was told it was because my account was deemed to not be authentic—an untrue claim.

85% of my activity was replying to or liking art or something I deem to be well designed.

Incidentally, this ban came after two tweets recently where I was asking why there are so many bot accounts on the platform. I deem it to be greater than 50% of all accounts now. This may be the case on all platforms, but X was my go-to so I noticed it.

When I tried to appeal I was told I was manipulating the platform, without explanation—another untrue claim by X.

Seventeen years and 320 followers. What was my goal of this apparent manipulation exactly? To be ignored and get no followers? My posts would regularly get between none and one or two likes.

After my second appeal and them answering none of my questions and explaining nothing, they said the decision is now final, I am not allowed to setup any new accounts and they will no longer be monitoring this inbox.

Now just imagine every facet of your life was plugged into one of these apps. Off like a switch.
 
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It consistently amazes me how there's somehow consensus in the media that Twitter/X still works despite the bare-bones staff. Like it "works" in that it's still up, but the day-to-day functionality is horrible—videos don't load, feeds don't populate, it randomly signs you out, etc.—to say nothing of the scams, spam, and contemptible content.
If you have to go there, delete the app and just use it in your browser. Less harvesting of data like your location, and good browser extensions can block a lot of the ads. Every time I go check it for my weather feed, I get asked to confirm my email since I supposedly* removed it, but that's a different thing.

*I deleted it, and yet it lists most of it in the popup when it asks to confirm it. If I lived somewhere with real consumer privacy I'd be tempted to file complaints at them obviously mishandling data, but I live in Texas. (Which also explains why I keep a multi-source weather feed.)
 
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