Tweetbot 6

Thanks to an article on MacStories I stumbled across a new version of a Twitter app I’ve been using for many, many years now: Tweetbot. I bought version 1.x back in 2011 for € 2.39 and another € 1 for the iPad version a couple of months later (yeay, now universal apps back then…). When I returned to iOS in 2015 from a couple of years using Android, Tweetbot 4.x was one of the first purchases I made from the AppStore and continued to purchase new major versions more or less as soon as they were released.

And before you ask: Yes, I’m still using Tweetbot now that Mastodon is my primary social network. In fact, Tweetbot is the only way I’ve used Twitter for (again) many years and Twitter is still a good resource for certain topics. And now, back to the story…

All major version jumps have required an additional purchase until now, but with version 6 Tapbots, the makers of Tweetbot, have moved the app to a subscription model. From what I’ve seen of the app so far, that’s also the one big change you see right now when opening the app. There are some UX changes sprinkled all over the app (like that tapping on any of primary buttons now comes with tactile feedback) but the big stuff seems to be going on in the background right now with support with the integration of newer Twitter APIs.

One thing that I’ve missed in Tweetbot before is the support for polls. These are not working in version 6 thanks to the new API integration but that’s also the only big change I’ve noticed so far in the app. The developers noted that the current version is basically an “early access” release with more stuff still to come.

That being said, the app now costs me € 6.49 per year. Given that I’ve paid for the app normally about the same every year as they publish a new major version, I’m absolutely fine continuing to do so 😅 But that’s perhaps just me. Honestly, for a new major release I would have hoped for a bit more change from a user’s point of view but I’m optimistic that Tapbots will deliver on that front 🙂