Twitter shuts down official Twitter for Mac app

Posted:
in Mac Software
Ubiquitous microblogging service Twitter on Friday announced an imminent end to its native Mac client, saying the change comes as part of efforts to maintain a consistent user experience across all platforms.




Quietly revealed through Twitter's support account, the firm's Mac app is no longer available for download from the Mac App Store and support for the software will be terminated in 30 days.

"We're focusing our efforts on a great Twitter experience that's consistent across platforms. So, starting today the Twitter for Mac app will no longer be available for download, and in 30 days will no longer be supported," Twitter wrote.

For some, the Mac app's discontinuation comes as no surprise, as Twitter has long let its Mac client languish. The firm consistently updates its iOS client -- all mobile versions for that matter -- with new features and enhancements while leaving desktop iterations without.

Twitter's upgrade problem goes back year. In 2015, for example, the Mac client was updated with a design refresh that brought it up to speed with its iOS counterpart. The version also brought support for inline video and animated GIFs, which were surprisingly not available until that point.

Issues continued in 2016, when Twitter pushed out a Mac update that introduced Moments and polls, features that debuted on iOS some eight months prior.

Twitter's mobile-first focus prompted users to abandoned the official Mac software for feature-rich alternatives from third-party developers, including Tweetbot and Twitterrific.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    I, for one, will miss it. I don’t mind the lack of features, because I use Twitter solely to keep up with news, but I’m very much averse to pass my social accounts credentials through third party apps.
    chiaracerhomie3mavemufc
  • Reply 2 of 15
    Eh. I've been looking for an excuse to ditch Twitter. Maybe this is it.
    cornchip
  • Reply 3 of 15
    Ubiquitous microblogging service Twitter on Friday announced an imminent end to its native Mac client, saying the change comes as part of efforts to maintain a consistent user experience across all platforms. 
    So, to be consistent on all platforms they will be discontinuing Twitter everywhere?

    How does discontinuing the Mac client make the Mac platform experience consistent? That doesn’t make sense to me. 
    edited February 2018 watto_cobramac_dogcornchipnetroxchia
  • Reply 4 of 15
    *cough* Project Marzipan *cough*
    watto_cobraosmartormenajrosmartormenajrNemWanracerhomie3
  • Reply 5 of 15
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,275member
    Just a reminder: Twitter is built right into macOS' share sheet, and that's not going anywhere. We're only talking about the standalone app here, unless I've missed something.
    cornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 15
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,945member
    *cough* Project Marzipan *cough*
    Ah, forgot about that.. nice catch.

    chasm said:
    Just a reminder: Twitter is built right into macOS' share sheet, and that's not going anywhere. We're only talking about the standalone app here, unless I've missed something.

    Oh so they took it out of iOS but left it in macOS? I haven’t really paid attention to that since my home Mac is stuck on El Capitan and I wouldn’t really pay attention to it at work. 

    edited February 2018
  • Reply 7 of 15
    JFC_PAJFC_PA Posts: 932member
    cornchip said:
    *cough* Project Marzipan *cough*
    Ah, forgot about that.. nice catch.

    chasm said:
    Just a reminder: Twitter is built right into macOS' share sheet, and that's not going anywhere. We're only talking about the standalone app here, unless I've missed something.

    Oh so they took it out of iOS but left it in macOS? I haven’t really paid attention to that since my home Mac is stuck on El Capitan and I wouldn’t really pay attention to it at work. 

    No they’re focusing on iOS and the rest of mobile. 
  • Reply 8 of 15
    Project Marzipan is coming right?
  • Reply 9 of 15
    It is hard to understand why Twitter is terminating their Mac client.  It cannot possibly cost that much for the company to support Mac users, who presumably comprises at least 26% of their desktop user base.  For example, many journalists cite Twitter messages in their articles, which are often written on the Mac.  Is Twitter still supporting Windows?  
  • Reply 10 of 15
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    No surprise, as it was so unusably bad, that I doubt many were using it. I tried it a couple times over the years, but that lasted a few days each time until I realized how poorly it was syncing with the Twitter stream and wasn't showing notifications properly and such. It couldn't even do the most basic let alone have features.

    But, a better way is just to log into Twitter directly.... so they did me a favor in that. I use a browser called Ghost Browser just for this kind of thing, as it can create multiple 'sessions' which are walled-off, so I can, for example, sign into 3 (the free version supports 3, paid gets more) different Twitter accounts at once (or other social media, or services where you might have more than one account).
    https://ghostbrowser.com

    It's also incredibly useful for things like web development where you might want to be logged into clients sites/accounts while still logged into your own. For example, I can be logged into my Google Analytics, while also be logged into a client site and their Google Analytics, etc.
  • Reply 11 of 15
    Ubiquitous microblogging service Twitter on Friday announced an imminent end to its native Mac client, saying the change comes as part of efforts to maintain a consistent user experience across all platforms. 
    So, to be consistent on all platforms they will be discontinuing Twitter everywhere?

    How does discontinuing the Mac client make the Mac platform experience consistent? That doesn’t make sense to me. 
    There is still the native Windows client. It is basically their mobile one, but maybe they forgot it exists. 
  • Reply 12 of 15
    wisey said:
    It is hard to understand why Twitter is terminating their Mac client.  It cannot possibly cost that much for the company to support Mac users, who presumably comprises at least 26% of their desktop user base.  For example, many journalists cite Twitter messages in their articles, which are often written on the Mac.  Is Twitter still supporting Windows?  
    It isn't about cost.

    The problem is that Twitter is BAD at creating native apps on any platform.

    Their iOS app sucked.  They destroyed the codebase they got when they bought a third-party iOS app,
  • Reply 13 of 15
    cgWerks said:
    ut, a better way is just to log into Twitter directly.... so they did me a favor in that. I use a browser called Ghost Browser just for this kind of thing, as it can create multiple 'sessions' which are walled-off, so I can, for example, sign into 3 (the free version supports 3, paid gets more) different Twitter accounts at once (or other social media, or services where you might have more than one account).
    https://ghostbrowser.com

    It's also incredibly useful for things like web development where you might want to be logged into clients sites/accounts while still logged into your own. For example, I can be logged into my Google Analytics, while also be logged into a client site and their Google Analytics, etc.

    Ghost Browser costs $120 PER YEAR to use.  Or $600 over 5 years.  NO THANKS.

    The free version is a very CRIPPLED version of Chromium. Gag. 

    It is simply easier to user many different versions of web browsers to accomplish the same thing but with full capabilities for free. For example, you can have mutiple accounts using Chrome, Chromium, Vivaldi, etc. 


  • Reply 14 of 15
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    jameskatt2 said:
    Ghost Browser costs $120 PER YEAR to use.  Or $600 over 5 years.  NO THANKS.
    The free version is a very CRIPPLED version of Chromium. Gag. 
    It is simply easier to user many different versions of web browsers to accomplish the same thing but with full capabilities for free. For example, you can have mutiple accounts using Chrome, Chromium, Vivaldi, etc. 
    Hey, YMMV  :) .... I've found it quite useful for these purposes.

    The paid version is clearly aimed at people who make a living managing multiple accounts. While yes, you can use separate browsers (and I did that in the past and still do when testing client sites), you'll run out after like 6 or so.

    I'm also not getting the very crippled comment. I'm not a huge fan of Chrome either, but it works for this purpose. It would be nice if they had used a more efficient core to build on, though. Chromium is kind of a pig, but it's getting better slowly.
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