6 ms·

Tweetbot 3

56 points by k-mcgrady 13y ago

nwh 13y ago
I'm still not convinced about this visual style. It's incredibly hard to parse compared with their older one, and the linework icons are especially challenging. I'm forced to look at the icon and work out what it means rather than being able to intuit it at a glance. Moreover this just looks exactly like all of it's peers; just another flat, generic app. The TapBot branding used to be incredibly strong, and it's just been stripped of everything that made it unique.
- hype7 13y ago
  I loved the last one. The huge thing that's missing for me on this one is the ability to make the text smaller. You get way fewer tweets on any screen. Probably going to downgrade
  - novum 13y ago
    TB3 uses the system font size that you specify in Settings -> General -> Text Size. I do agree that the default is too large, and furthermore that some (most?) apps would benefit from an independent text size setting. [Shameless plug] My app MUDRammer: A Modern MUD Client[0] is very text-oriented and uses its own text size control to allow for font sizes from 8 to 24pt, far more than would be possible with the system control. [0] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mudrammer-a-modern-mud-client/id597157072?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mudrammer-a-modern-mud-clien...
    - lancewiggs 13y ago
      But why did I have to read HN to find this out? It destroyed the good vibe, as did the disappearance of the simple method to change lists.
  - jorde 13y ago
    Text sixe is controlled on the system level and you can adjust it in the settings: General / Font Size
    - chmars 13y ago
      What if I only want a smaller text in Tweetbot and not all over iOS?
      - nwh 13y ago
        You're out of luck.
        chmars 13y ago
        I'm not. According to a FAQ published today, Tapbots is working on a solution … :) But I really don’t want to have the same font size as the rest of the OS. We hear you and are working on something, stay tuned. http://tapbots.com/blog/news/tweetbot-3-questions-and-answers http://tapbots.com/blog/news/tweetbot-3-questions-and-answer...
- joeblau 13y ago
  I agree 100%. Designers are following Apples design blindly but I'm not sure Apple knows what they are doing when it comes to Flat design but they definitely know skeuomorphism. I've seen so many awesome Flat designs on dribbbble and behance that make a lot more sense.
armandososa 13y ago
Thank you flat design proponents. You've succeeded in killing creativity and differentiation.
- cicloid 13y ago
  Wait for the next wave of design... I'll come back...
  - AtTheLast 13y ago
    If the whole flat design pendulum could swing back a little that would be great. I don't see why everyone is going so crazy over it.
- kennywinker 13y ago
  Are you basing that on the screenshots? It's a pretty impressively dynamic interface. My first impression is that they did some awesome stuff with UIKitDynamics, and none of it seems egregious.
  - armandososa 13y ago
    Yep. I won't install it because I think it's kind of a dick move to use one of their key slots. But they used to have a pretty unique aesthetic that was distinguishable at first glance. Now the first glance is all bland.
    - kennywinker 13y ago
      I agree, there is a trend in iOS 7 for visual "blandness". I'm not upset about it, but I do see it happening. It's not a dick move to pay them their asking price, and use a token.
  - chmars 13y ago
    It feels slow with all the shaking etc. And easy list access is gone, you have to use the menu to access lists …
- 13y ago
kennywinker 13y ago
Awesome update. For reasons that escape me now, I switched from Tweetbot to Twitterrific when iOS 7 came out. But Tweetbot is clearly a superior client in a bunch of ways. Most notably: streaming api support, and notifications. It's nice to be able to switch back to Tweetbot without leaving my flat blurry world. My only complaint is the same one I had with Tweetbot 1 and 2: that stupid icon.
- mitchell209 13y ago
  Are you saying Twitterrific doesn't have notifications? They've had notifications for a while now. At least 6 months, I believe. Check your settings.
  - kennywinker 13y ago
    Hah! You're absolutely right, somehow I had notifications switched off. Had I know that an hour ago... I probably still would have gone back to Tweetbot. I like the way it works better. But that definitely makes the comparison between the two apps closer.
baddox 13y ago
This feels like anti-consumer pricing to me. Obviously, the prices are all low, so I welcome the "first world problems" accusations, but they already charged separately for the iPad and iPhone versions for seemingly no reason, and it just doesn't feel good being required to pay again for what appears to be nothing more than an iOS 7 redesign (granted, a good-looking one) that the vast majority of apps will offer as a normal free update.
- nwh 13y ago
  $3 is hardly anti-consumer. It's literally me having a 1.5 hour nap in my apartment, or part of a cup of coffee. They're also in the position of having a very restricted number of API keys they can use, which is why I imagine this is being released and branded as a separate version.
  - baddox 13y ago
    It's not about the dollar amount, which I tried to emphasize. It's about not giving updates for free, which for non-game apps is overwhelming the norm. As for the API key limit, I don't see why that makes a difference for this, unless Twitter has some specific rule that they allow new API keys if you release a new major version or something like that.
  - mitchell209 13y ago
    But wouldn't older customers who just updated keep the same token, so it would only use new ones as new users bought the app? Losing tokens shouldn't have been a huge problem if this was the case. That said, I still support them charging for the update.
    - nwh 13y ago
      It's a whole different app and the old one remains on the store. It's for all the world a different product, which would have its own new key.
- kennywinker 13y ago
  I remember balking at apps that had separate iPhone and iPad versions... and then I tried to make a universal app. There is a LOT of work involved. I was a bit bummed it was a paid upgrade, but I think we have to blame Twitter for that. Only acquiring new users is no longer a viable business model, twitter clients need to find ways to get money from their existing users in order to continue development. Anyway, $3 for something I KNOW will be good (having used Tweetbot 1&2 extensively) is a no-brainer.
sashk 13y ago
Different. Will take some time to get used. Othwise very nice update.
kmfrk 13y ago
Shame to see the old design go, even though it had to. Tweetbot is one of the most well-designed iOS apps ever made, in my opinion.
- vernie 13y ago
  At least now I know what they've been doing instead of updating Weightbot to the iPhone 5 aspect ratio.
  - baddox 13y ago
    Don't worry, I'm sure you'll one day have the opportunity to purchase Weightbot again when they update it.
mindotus 13y ago
It's really beautiful. Did Twitter ever offer to buy TweetBot? Still pretty upset tweetdeck was killed.
surfearth 13y ago
Font size is now based on the system-wide settings in Settings > General > Text Size. I was worried for a moment when I couldn't find the setting in the app itself since the text was nearly 50% larger the previous version.
huhtenberg 13y ago
This is butt ugly. The one and only reason why I bought previous Tweetbot version was that it looked gorgeous and had an insane visual polish. This however... is just... argh... I'm just speechless.
- bodhi 13y ago
  No comment about the new version, but my view of the old version was that it was the most heavy-handed overly-styled app that I use. Sure, that was the Tapbots aesthetic, but I used Tweetbot for the interaction design, in spite of the visual style.
  - mitchell209 13y ago
    It at least gave their app a special visual style. Now it's just "Tweet" without the "bot".
  - enra 13y ago
    Felt the same. Couldn't use it with all the different textures, gradients, borders...
dustinupdyke 13y ago
Off topic, but I have to say I loathe links that take me out of the browser and into the App Store directly.
- clauretano 13y ago
  you can fix that by editing a config file. Here's how in Chrome http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_reset_google_chrome_dialog http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_reset_google_chrom...
bradleyjoyce 13y ago
I absolutely love Tweetbot. I've paid for it on all my devices and use it every day. That being said, I'm rapidly tiring of Paul's attitude toward his customers. It's like he takes everything negative said personally. His Twitter bio says "Please don't contact me for tech support, I won't answer." He often tweets things that annoy him about his customers like "But but but why do I have to pay again." Paul, if you're reading this, I love your work but your public attitude is so often negative that it makes me not want to continue to support you.
kingnight 13y ago
Talk about image compression in those screenshots...
billyshih 13y ago
Definitely miss the old aesthetic but it does clash with iOS7 a lot. The photo tossing animation is superb. I wish other apps let you do the same instead of forcing one directional tossing.
cynix 13y ago
Looks like you can no longer triple-tap to reply, or tap-and-hold the back button to go all the way back to your timeline. These were very handy gestures and I don't see why they'd remove them.
- mitchell209 13y ago
  You don't need tap-hold to go back now that the tab bar is always present at the button. Just hit the tab and it goes back to the timeline.
tnorthcutt 13y ago
My beefs: 1. Slow animations on image dismissal. 2. Lack of triple-tap to [reply|retweet|favorite|translate|view in favstar]. 3. Hides a tweet's timestamp if you favorite it. 4. Makes noise when I tweet, even though I have sounds set to "Notifications Only". #1 is subjective, I suppose (and in keeping with iOS 7's slow animations). 2-4 are, in my opinion, significant UI/UX regressions.
bgar 13y ago
Right now I'm sticking with Twitterrific. I played around with TB3 but the lack of a dark theme is a dealbreaker for me, among other things. Especially when Twitterrific looks really nice, and Tweetbot looks really bland.
- mitchell209 13y ago
  I really love Twitterrific's notifications, too. The icons make them much easier to recognize, which in turn makes acting on the right notifications (specifically mentions / replies) easier.
  - bgar 13y ago
    Exactly. It used to be that Twitteriffic was the underdog but I think it's superior now. Too bad twitter views 3rd party clients negatively, hopefully they don't all get shut down in the future.
daveilers 13y ago
I think I enjoy the sound design as much as the visual design of TweetBot 2. Has this been changed/improved/degraded in the new version? Anyone?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
aabalkan 13y ago
I am really pissed off when the app producers release major versions of their apps as a new app in the store so you have to purchase again. Same thing happened with Reeder app (which is a prominent RSS reader) or Shares app. I already pay you $5-$10-$15 whatever to trust that this will be a lifetime purchase. Why would app developers do it? Why does Apple allow this? If I develop an app and publish 10 versions (all has new features every time) as a new app in the store, is it legitimate at all? Anyway I purchased this one as well but it is not about $2.99, it is about the brand and I started to hate Tapbots. When Twitter releases a better client, I will throw the app I paid for away just because I don't Tapbots apps anymore.
- pclark 13y ago
  If a developer redesigns and rewrites an application why are they not entitled to make their users pay for it again? You could just keep using the old version. I think it's absurd that people complain about iOS apps being "yet another $5" given the amount of time it takes to make a beautiful application. Given that iOS developers have no ability to offer upgrade discounts, I fully support them charging full price for new versions. They deserve it, especially given the hundreds of dollars people pay for new versions of Office, Creative Suite, etc each year.
- sambeau 13y ago
  What makes you think $15 entitles you to a lifetime purchase let alone $2.99? What else in your life do you get to keep forever for that amount? A pair of levi jeans: ~$50 of ~3 years; an iPhone ~$500 for ~3 years; a beer ~$5 for ~30 mins. I bought a coffee in Starbucks yesterday. How dare they charge me for another today! Most apps are priced at even less than a coffee. The profit on most apps is less than that on one tomato. Yet, you feel entitled?
  - aabalkan 13y ago
    That's not the same thing. Why are you comparing consumables with software? I don't care how much Tweetbot costs, if it does the job, I can pay $30, but I when I buy it, I must know the release policy of the publisher. Is it going to be Microsoft Office where I have to pay for upgrades? Or is it going to be like Instapaper, a lifetime purchase? This is the point I tried to make.
nonchalance 13y ago
PG: can you make HN show the subdomain for apple.com links (or just for itunes.apple.com )?
miloshadzic 13y ago
I think that it looks great. Much better than the last version.
quaunaut 13y ago
...why isn't it just using my iPhone logins for Twitter? It's telling me I have to log in separately. FFS.

56 points by k-mcgrady 13y ago

nwh 13y ago

I'm still not convinced about this visual style. It's incredibly hard to parse compared with their older one, and the linework icons are especially challenging. I'm forced to look at the icon and work out what it means rather than being able to intuit it at a glance. Moreover this just looks exactly like all of it's peers; just another flat, generic app. The TapBot branding used to be incredibly strong, and it's just been stripped of everything that made it unique.

hype7 13y ago
I loved the last one. The huge thing that's missing for me on this one is the ability to make the text smaller. You get way fewer tweets on any screen. Probably going to downgrade
- novum 13y ago
  TB3 uses the system font size that you specify in Settings -> General -> Text Size. I do agree that the default is too large, and furthermore that some (most?) apps would benefit from an independent text size setting. [Shameless plug] My app MUDRammer: A Modern MUD Client[0] is very text-oriented and uses its own text size control to allow for font sizes from 8 to 24pt, far more than would be possible with the system control. [0] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mudrammer-a-modern-mud-client/id597157072?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mudrammer-a-modern-mud-clien...
  - lancewiggs 13y ago
    But why did I have to read HN to find this out? It destroyed the good vibe, as did the disappearance of the simple method to change lists.
- jorde 13y ago
  Text sixe is controlled on the system level and you can adjust it in the settings: General / Font Size
  - chmars 13y ago
    What if I only want a smaller text in Tweetbot and not all over iOS?
    - nwh 13y ago
      You're out of luck.
      - chmars 13y ago
        I'm not. According to a FAQ published today, Tapbots is working on a solution … :) But I really don’t want to have the same font size as the rest of the OS. We hear you and are working on something, stay tuned. http://tapbots.com/blog/news/tweetbot-3-questions-and-answers http://tapbots.com/blog/news/tweetbot-3-questions-and-answer...
joeblau 13y ago
I agree 100%. Designers are following Apples design blindly but I'm not sure Apple knows what they are doing when it comes to Flat design but they definitely know skeuomorphism. I've seen so many awesome Flat designs on dribbbble and behance that make a lot more sense.

armandososa 13y ago

Thank you flat design proponents. You've succeeded in killing creativity and differentiation.

cicloid 13y ago
Wait for the next wave of design... I'll come back...
- AtTheLast 13y ago
  If the whole flat design pendulum could swing back a little that would be great. I don't see why everyone is going so crazy over it.
kennywinker 13y ago
Are you basing that on the screenshots? It's a pretty impressively dynamic interface. My first impression is that they did some awesome stuff with UIKitDynamics, and none of it seems egregious.
- armandososa 13y ago
  Yep. I won't install it because I think it's kind of a dick move to use one of their key slots. But they used to have a pretty unique aesthetic that was distinguishable at first glance. Now the first glance is all bland.
  - kennywinker 13y ago
    I agree, there is a trend in iOS 7 for visual "blandness". I'm not upset about it, but I do see it happening. It's not a dick move to pay them their asking price, and use a token.
- chmars 13y ago
  It feels slow with all the shaking etc. And easy list access is gone, you have to use the menu to access lists …
13y ago

kennywinker 13y ago

Awesome update. For reasons that escape me now, I switched from Tweetbot to Twitterrific when iOS 7 came out. But Tweetbot is clearly a superior client in a bunch of ways. Most notably: streaming api support, and notifications. It's nice to be able to switch back to Tweetbot without leaving my flat blurry world. My only complaint is the same one I had with Tweetbot 1 and 2: that stupid icon.

mitchell209 13y ago
Are you saying Twitterrific doesn't have notifications? They've had notifications for a while now. At least 6 months, I believe. Check your settings.
- kennywinker 13y ago
  Hah! You're absolutely right, somehow I had notifications switched off. Had I know that an hour ago... I probably still would have gone back to Tweetbot. I like the way it works better. But that definitely makes the comparison between the two apps closer.

baddox 13y ago

This feels like anti-consumer pricing to me. Obviously, the prices are all low, so I welcome the "first world problems" accusations, but they already charged separately for the iPad and iPhone versions for seemingly no reason, and it just doesn't feel good being required to pay again for what appears to be nothing more than an iOS 7 redesign (granted, a good-looking one) that the vast majority of apps will offer as a normal free update.

nwh 13y ago
$3 is hardly anti-consumer. It's literally me having a 1.5 hour nap in my apartment, or part of a cup of coffee. They're also in the position of having a very restricted number of API keys they can use, which is why I imagine this is being released and branded as a separate version.
- baddox 13y ago
  It's not about the dollar amount, which I tried to emphasize. It's about not giving updates for free, which for non-game apps is overwhelming the norm. As for the API key limit, I don't see why that makes a difference for this, unless Twitter has some specific rule that they allow new API keys if you release a new major version or something like that.
- mitchell209 13y ago
  But wouldn't older customers who just updated keep the same token, so it would only use new ones as new users bought the app? Losing tokens shouldn't have been a huge problem if this was the case. That said, I still support them charging for the update.
  - nwh 13y ago
    It's a whole different app and the old one remains on the store. It's for all the world a different product, which would have its own new key.
kennywinker 13y ago
I remember balking at apps that had separate iPhone and iPad versions... and then I tried to make a universal app. There is a LOT of work involved. I was a bit bummed it was a paid upgrade, but I think we have to blame Twitter for that. Only acquiring new users is no longer a viable business model, twitter clients need to find ways to get money from their existing users in order to continue development. Anyway, $3 for something I KNOW will be good (having used Tweetbot 1&2 extensively) is a no-brainer.

sashk 13y ago

Different. Will take some time to get used. Othwise very nice update.

kmfrk 13y ago

Shame to see the old design go, even though it had to. Tweetbot is one of the most well-designed iOS apps ever made, in my opinion.

vernie 13y ago
At least now I know what they've been doing instead of updating Weightbot to the iPhone 5 aspect ratio.
- baddox 13y ago
  Don't worry, I'm sure you'll one day have the opportunity to purchase Weightbot again when they update it.

mindotus 13y ago

It's really beautiful. Did Twitter ever offer to buy TweetBot? Still pretty upset tweetdeck was killed.

surfearth 13y ago

Font size is now based on the system-wide settings in Settings > General > Text Size. I was worried for a moment when I couldn't find the setting in the app itself since the text was nearly 50% larger the previous version.

huhtenberg 13y ago

This is butt ugly. The one and only reason why I bought previous Tweetbot version was that it looked gorgeous and had an insane visual polish. This however... is just... argh... I'm just speechless.

bodhi 13y ago
No comment about the new version, but my view of the old version was that it was the most heavy-handed overly-styled app that I use. Sure, that was the Tapbots aesthetic, but I used Tweetbot for the interaction design, in spite of the visual style.
- mitchell209 13y ago
  It at least gave their app a special visual style. Now it's just "Tweet" without the "bot".
- enra 13y ago
  Felt the same. Couldn't use it with all the different textures, gradients, borders...

dustinupdyke 13y ago

Off topic, but I have to say I loathe links that take me out of the browser and into the App Store directly.

clauretano 13y ago
you can fix that by editing a config file. Here's how in Chrome http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_reset_google_chrome_dialog http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_reset_google_chrom...

bradleyjoyce 13y ago

I absolutely love Tweetbot. I've paid for it on all my devices and use it every day. That being said, I'm rapidly tiring of Paul's attitude toward his customers. It's like he takes everything negative said personally. His Twitter bio says "Please don't contact me for tech support, I won't answer." He often tweets things that annoy him about his customers like "But but but why do I have to pay again." Paul, if you're reading this, I love your work but your public attitude is so often negative that it makes me not want to continue to support you.

kingnight 13y ago

Talk about image compression in those screenshots...

billyshih 13y ago

Definitely miss the old aesthetic but it does clash with iOS7 a lot. The photo tossing animation is superb. I wish other apps let you do the same instead of forcing one directional tossing.

cynix 13y ago

Looks like you can no longer triple-tap to reply, or tap-and-hold the back button to go all the way back to your timeline. These were very handy gestures and I don't see why they'd remove them.

mitchell209 13y ago
You don't need tap-hold to go back now that the tab bar is always present at the button. Just hit the tab and it goes back to the timeline.

tnorthcutt 13y ago

My beefs: 1. Slow animations on image dismissal. 2. Lack of triple-tap to [reply|retweet|favorite|translate|view in favstar]. 3. Hides a tweet's timestamp if you favorite it. 4. Makes noise when I tweet, even though I have sounds set to "Notifications Only". #1 is subjective, I suppose (and in keeping with iOS 7's slow animations). 2-4 are, in my opinion, significant UI/UX regressions.

bgar 13y ago

Right now I'm sticking with Twitterrific. I played around with TB3 but the lack of a dark theme is a dealbreaker for me, among other things. Especially when Twitterrific looks really nice, and Tweetbot looks really bland.

mitchell209 13y ago
I really love Twitterrific's notifications, too. The icons make them much easier to recognize, which in turn makes acting on the right notifications (specifically mentions / replies) easier.
- bgar 13y ago
  Exactly. It used to be that Twitteriffic was the underdog but I think it's superior now. Too bad twitter views 3rd party clients negatively, hopefully they don't all get shut down in the future.

daveilers 13y ago

I think I enjoy the sound design as much as the visual design of TweetBot 2. Has this been changed/improved/degraded in the new version? Anyone?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

aabalkan 13y ago

I am really pissed off when the app producers release major versions of their apps as a new app in the store so you have to purchase again. Same thing happened with Reeder app (which is a prominent RSS reader) or Shares app. I already pay you $5-$10-$15 whatever to trust that this will be a lifetime purchase. Why would app developers do it? Why does Apple allow this? If I develop an app and publish 10 versions (all has new features every time) as a new app in the store, is it legitimate at all? Anyway I purchased this one as well but it is not about $2.99, it is about the brand and I started to hate Tapbots. When Twitter releases a better client, I will throw the app I paid for away just because I don't Tapbots apps anymore.

pclark 13y ago
If a developer redesigns and rewrites an application why are they not entitled to make their users pay for it again? You could just keep using the old version. I think it's absurd that people complain about iOS apps being "yet another $5" given the amount of time it takes to make a beautiful application. Given that iOS developers have no ability to offer upgrade discounts, I fully support them charging full price for new versions. They deserve it, especially given the hundreds of dollars people pay for new versions of Office, Creative Suite, etc each year.
sambeau 13y ago
What makes you think $15 entitles you to a lifetime purchase let alone $2.99? What else in your life do you get to keep forever for that amount? A pair of levi jeans: ~$50 of ~3 years; an iPhone ~$500 for ~3 years; a beer ~$5 for ~30 mins. I bought a coffee in Starbucks yesterday. How dare they charge me for another today! Most apps are priced at even less than a coffee. The profit on most apps is less than that on one tomato. Yet, you feel entitled?
- aabalkan 13y ago
  That's not the same thing. Why are you comparing consumables with software? I don't care how much Tweetbot costs, if it does the job, I can pay $30, but I when I buy it, I must know the release policy of the publisher. Is it going to be Microsoft Office where I have to pay for upgrades? Or is it going to be like Instapaper, a lifetime purchase? This is the point I tried to make.

nonchalance 13y ago

PG: can you make HN show the subdomain for apple.com links (or just for itunes.apple.com )?

miloshadzic 13y ago

I think that it looks great. Much better than the last version.

quaunaut 13y ago

...why isn't it just using my iPhone logins for Twitter? It's telling me I have to log in separately. FFS.