Tapbots, the company behind Tweetbot, has released a major update for the iPhone and iPad. Tweetbot 6 is now available in the App store. While there aren’t a lot of visual changes, there are a couple of important things happening under the hood.
First, Tweetbot 6 is using Twitter’s API v2. An API is an interface that lets two applications or services interact with each other. In today’s case, Tweetbot uses Twitter’s API to interact with the service.
And third-party developers can only do what Twitter lets them do. For many years, Twitter’s API has been somewhat limited, especially if you’ve been trying to build a full-fledged Twitter client. But API v2 surfaces some missing features.
For instance, Tweetbot 6 can now display polls. Before that, polls simply didn’t appear in the timeline. Similarly, Tweetbot 6 displays preview cards, which let you preview linked content without having to click on them. Some features are still missing, such as stories.
There are some minor changes with Tweetbot 6, such as new interface themes, a new feature that lets you select Chrome or Firefox as browser options for links and some tweaks in the app design.
The business model is changing as well. Instead of paying to download the app, you can now download a free app with many restrictions — for instance, you can’t tweet. When you’re ready, you can subscribe to unlock all features for $0.99 per month or $5.99 per year.
This change should ensure the future of the app. Tapbots says Tweetbot 6 is currently in early access. The company plans to add more features down the road.
And if you’re using Tweetbot 5 right now, the app is still working fine. You can re-download the app from the ‘Purchased’ section in the App Store.
