You’ll soon have to pay to use TweetDeck, with Twitter announcing that the previously free app is being turned into a Twitter Blue exclusive. It’s the last straw that has some users considering jumping ship to Twitter alternatives such as Bluesky or Meta‘s upcoming Threads app.
“We have just launched a new, improved version of TweetDeck,” the official Twitter Support account announced on Monday. “In 30 days, users must be Verified to access TweetDeck.”
Mashable did not reach out to Twitter for comment, as the company’s press email has been set to auto-respond to all inquiries with a poop emoji since March.
The news that TweetDeck will soon only be available to paid subscribers was tacked onto Twitter’s announcement that it is launching a new version of the supplemental app.
Current TweetDeck users can carry over their saved searches, lists, columns, and workflows when switching to the new version, though you’ll only have one chance to do so — if you decide not to take this option you’ll have to rebuild everything manually.
TweetDeck 2.0(opens in a new tab) adds a few new features such as video docking and full Tweet composer functionality. However, TweetDeck Teams functionality has been disabled, with its return expected in a few weeks. TweetDeck Teams allows users to share access to Twitter accounts without also sharing passwords, which is a particularly useful feature for business accounts.
All users are currently able to access the new TweetDeck regardless of their Twitter Blue status, giving everyone time to establish themselves on other microblogging apps before the 30-day countdown is up.
TweetDeck was previously a free, independent app before it was acquired and integrated by Twitter in 2011. Targeted at Twitter’s power users and professionals, TweetDeck enables users to load multiple columns of tweets at once in customisable lists. While this is a typically useful function, Twitter’s recent imposition of rate limits appeared to severely impair TweetDeck by preventing many users’ columns from loading(opens in a new tab). The news that Twitter will soon lock TweetDeck behind a paid subscription is likely to erode its appeal further.
Twitter also considered developing a paid version of TweetDeck back in 2017, surveying users to determine whether anyone would be interested. Considering that it didn’t eventuate, it’s fair to say the idea was probably as unpopular then as it is now, as even current Twitter Blue subscribers are deriding Twitter’s latest move.
