A number of popular Twitter clients went down last Friday, including Tweetbot, Twitterrific and Echofon. Users could not log into their accounts or see their timelines. At first, this seemed like a bug in the Twitter API, but silence and new details from Twitter indicate that the company intentionally restricted access to third parties to his app.
problem
On Friday at midnight PST time, we noticed that many users were unable to access their third-party Twitter client. The app maker quickly acknowledged the issue and said it had tried to contact the company.
Japan-based developer pointed out at the time Many smaller Twitter clients worked fine. Many people in the community speculate that it may be an API issue or the company may be restricting access to large clients.
radio silence
Developers and users expected Twitter to get in touch in some way, but the company and its new owner, Elon Musk, have remained silent on the matter.However, Tesla’s CEO, from the latest Falcon Heavy launch of the platform Tweet recommendation code.
The Information reported over the weekend that an internal Twitter message indicated that shutting down certain third-party clients was the company’s decision, not a bug. According to the report, one project manager told the product team that the company had “started working on communications,” but did not provide a formal, approved communication timeline.
Developer frustration
Since the saga began, many developers have voiced their dissatisfaction twitter and Mastodon. Twitterrific creator Craig Hockenberry posted a blog post called “The Shit Show.” and vengeful. “
Fenix developer Matteo Villa said on Twitter that he is considering removing the client from the App Store, which is working at the time of writing this article.
Tweetbot co-creator Paul Haddad even tried loading the old API key to make the app work.This trick worked for a while and some people were able to access their accounts. I’m starting to hit my API limit The client was then suspended again.
iOS developer Musk account, Tweetbot said it hit the limit of 300 posts per 15 minutes.
Earlier, we built a demo client to demonstrate that Twitter’s API is working and the third-party app’s suspension was not due to a bug.
Many of these developers were concerned about the handling of refunds to people subscribing to the pro or premium versions of their apps if Twitter banned third-party clients. will fall, meaning that new products will have to be made without making any money.
Way forward
Some developers have already indicated their intention to devote themselves to other projects. Haddad told TechCrunch in an email that Tweetbot is currently focused on launching his Mastodon client, Ivory, in closed beta.
The team is now focused on improving the onboarding experience, then fixing bugs and working towards an App Store release, he said.
Villa also released a beta version of the Mastodon client Wolly on Apple’s test platform Testflight.
For some other developers, the situation is bleak. iOS developer Adam Demasi says some indie developers whose primary product is his Twitter client may face tough times.
Since Musk acquired Twitter last year, the company has shut down several developer-related projects, including the Twitter Toolbox for app discovery. Even though the company hasn’t announced an official closure, several other programs are dead. The developer has been cautious about his Twitter development plans, given that the company has not clearly communicated its plans for platform support.
This kind of move undermines the social network’s efforts over the past few years to regain developer trust. Last month, Twitter’s former developer platform head Amir Shevat wrote on his TechCrunch that the new management has broken developer trust. Putting his Twitter client in this questionable suspension of a third party without communication does not lend credibility to the community.
