During the past several months, a war has been brewing between Twitter apps for the iPhone. But it’s been largely two-sided. You were either in the Twitterfon camp or the Tweetie camp. And if you were using any other app, it was only because you didn’t know any better. But with the release of Twitterrific 2.0 [iTunes link] for the iPhone, a new player has entered the fray.
Twitterrific was one of the original iPhone Twitter apps. And for a while it was the most popular one. But when newer apps like the Twinkle, Tweetsville and then Twitterfon and Tweetie came along, they just blew it out of the water with either features, speed, or both. And so I was very skeptical when trying out this latest version, thinking there was no way it could replace the two newest gold standards. But after using it for a day, I have to say, I’ve for the most part been won over.
The new Twitterrific is great. It adds all the key features that it lacked before: Multiple account support, search and trends, while doing so with a completely redesigned user interface. Previously, I didn’t like how big and clunky tweets looked in Twitterific, but the new version allows you to easily change the size of your tweet stream depending on how many tweets you want to see on one screen. It also allows you to change the theme from dark to medium to light.
The new Twitterrific also adds an amazing amount of features, while being able to keep the core functionality of the app simple. This is largely thanks to the filter icon which tucks away @ replies, direct messages and the like. Also in that area, you’ll find what I think is one of the key advantages the app has over its rivals: The ability to bookmark tweets to look at later (which is separate from favoriting tweets). You also take and save notes on various users.
There are also a ton of options that can be set in the settings menu, such as which photo service to upload pictures to. And the ability to add Instapaper bookmarking support, just like Tweetie offers. You can also set the app to be better suited for left-handed people, set what tapping on an avatar does (as well as set what double and triple tapping does), and a whole host of other things.
But the most important element to me for any of these Twitter apps, is speed. Previously, Twitterrific seemed downright slow when compared to some of its newer rivals. But the new version is much faster — but it’s still not quite as fast as Tweetie. But it has some nice options to make this less of an issue, including the ability to set auto-refresh intervals for your tweet stream. Unfortunately, I have gotten a number of API timeouts when trying to refresh my stream too often, but that’s likely at least as much of Twitter’s own fault.
After initially taking the Twitterfon side, for the past few months I’ve been a Tweetie convert. It is simply a hard app to beat in terms of features, ease of use and design. The main downside is that it is a paid app (while Twitterfon is free). Because of this, Tweetie started as more of a Twitter power user tool. But by word of mouth it has spread quickly and grown into a huge app. So big that the developer even made a desktop version for the Mac.
But this new version of Twitterific (which also has a desktop app too), is a worthy challenger to the throne. Smartly, it’s creators, The Iconfactory, offer it in either free or paid versions (the premium $3.99 one takes away the in-stream ads). If you want a Twitter client for the iPhone with the most features, Twitterrific is probably for you. For me, it remains to be seen which one I’ll continue to use on a daily basis. Twitterrific’s slightly slower speed may ultimately be the deal-breaker. But if I start bookmarking a lot of tweets, or using some of the other features, I may continue using Twitterrific — even instead of Tweetie.
Check out a quick run through of the app in the video below:
As a mobile user, speed is the biggest issue for me, as I suspect it is for most. Trying to tweet on the go needs to be dead simple & fast.
Agreed, but Twitterrific is much faster than it used to be, perhaps only slightly slower than Tweetie now.
A video comparison of some basic functions would be a really useful addition to this article.
I have no idea what al lthe fuss is about twitter when blogs have been around for a long time.I dont get it.
http://www.bueno.com talk is not cheap but at bueno is free.
On your death bed you will look back with regret on all the time you wasted using twitter. On a positive note, I have enjoyed your posts.
Well have been to that bueno.com site and i have to tell you guys it is very good.Thought about the post before and had to check it out.I am with you this site has the potential very well organixed and thought out congrats i give it a thumbs up.
ian, http://instatweet.com -> quick posting-only
I used Twitterrific for a while then switched to Twitterfon.
My list of free Twitter based apps: http://bawaal.com/blog/?p=100
Will try new Twitterriffic again and see if they can pull me back from Twitterfon.
That looks cool, I would kill to have that development know how to build my own app. I might just have to track down that developer an find out if he knows anyone on the cheap.
I’m happy to see Twitterrific back in the game. T2 must be the sexiest twitter app – even though it could be a bit faster.
Now it’s time for an improved desktop version.
It should be noted that Instapaper support is half broken: it doesn’t support people who have passwords on their accounts. Besides that, Twitterrific is excellent and feature-rich!
test test,,,,,,
Twitterrific was my first iPhone Twitter client – I switched to Tweetie for the extra features and thought I preferred Twitterrific’s interface. Now, T2 doesn’t have any features to tempt me away and feels unnecessarily flashy compared to Tweetie…
Twitterrific took way to long to improve the client, and even with the improvements Tweetie still kicks it’s ass IMHO. Along with it’s GREAT Mac UI, Tweetie owns the Mobile/Desktop combo.
Actually I think Twitterrific has a few features that beat Tweetie:
- In Twitterrific, you start a new tweet and then tap on tweets or @mentions to put them in your tweet, very cool.
- Twitterrific lets you post URLs (AND shorten them) right from Safari.
So does Tweetie.
Just put tweetie: before the URL in Safari to send it as a shortened link in Tweetie.
i.e. tweetie:http://www.techcrunch.com
Just tried it for 20 mins. Feels awkward compared to Twitterfon — two clicks to open a link, two clicks to view a profile, and even in that brief time I noticed how flipping between tweets and action icons at the bottom felt uncomfortable. But it does have Instapaper integration which is nice. No landscape in-place web browser though? Hmm…
You can’t access a link in Twitterfon without two taps either.
My mistake – one tap, BUT if there are other mentions (@) or topics (#) or links, it takes two taps.
Yeah fair point – it’s not always one tap. Still feels less fluid but I can’t really articulate why. If I could just get Instapaper on Twitterfon I’d be a happy man. I believe it’s coming soon
I think you guys forgot about Twittelator, is the power house in iphone twitter apps, you even have tweet draft like when twitter is down you won’t slow down.
I agree! Twittelator is IMHO the premium app for power users. It still is slightly behind Tweetie in speed, but as far as functionality goes, it is a time saver.
I too dig the Twittelator!
you, too, are a dork
I agree, I prefer Twittelator. It’s better than even any desktop apps for Twitter.
I think the new version is pretty darn good. Being able to access your stream while writing a new tweet is a killer feature.
I was a TwitterFon user before, but may switch. I bought Tweetie but that feels the most awkward of the three, despite the polished design, it’s UI is a bit clunky – especially the hidden location of the refresh button. I have always found TwitterFon to be faster too, but maybe that was a result of it’s simplicity.
So for me, it’s TwitterFon first, Twitterrific a close second, and Tweetie a distant third. There’s still a chance Birdfeed comes out and does it the best.
I bought the first version of Twiterrific Premium, it’s a shame I have to pay for the new version.
Sorry it was a mistake.
After less than 10 minutes, I am totally addicted to Twitterrific!
Killer features for the _free_ version:
* multiple accounts
* URL shortening via bit.ly
* post URLS from iPhone Safari to Twitterrific (FINALLY!!)
* saved searches
* filters
Wow! This is a great app. They made loads of improvements and it’s really solid right now. I’m definitely going to have to spend some time with it to see if it’s better than Tweetie.
Few issues i have:
1) Kinda slow still… Needs to get a bit faster.
2) Icons are a bit confusing. I didn’t find the navigation intuitive. I found myself clicking on buttons and having no idea what to expect. This is something that is easy to get used to, but it could be an area of improvement for sure.
Way to hide a product placement in a blog post!
They’re all missing a major feature: groups in the cloud. Maybe twitter will support groups eventually, but until then, these clients need to support groups *AND* keep the groups in the cloud so you can access them from multiple clients (mobile and desktop), and share them too.
Twitterfon is perfect in every regard except for the lack of multi account support. I have a feeling they’ll be adding that soon though.
I’ve hated twitterific from the getgo so I don’t think I’ll bother checking this new one out. It would take a serious amount of awesome to win me back.
As someone who paid $10 for the original, I’m glad the upgrade was free. But they may have introduced extra complexity and reduced usability in how they implemented the expanded feature set. I’m a bit torn between it and Tweetie. Wish I could pick and choose features (and performance) from the two to design the perfect client for *me*. I’ll continue to play with it a few more days, see if it grows on me and as I get more familiar with the UI.
MG- most famous hands in tech… Should keep them in homeostasis glass casing things like Ducovny in Zoolander
And, like all wars, all sides are wrong, and this case, both sides’ execution and software are crappy. Twitterfon and Twitterific do nothing to advance software or humanity in any way.
So Twitterfon now also has an updated Twitter client. They also introduced ads into the free veresion and a new paid version
That being said, the paid version now gets you the multiple account support feature Twitterific also added.
I am not a big Twitter guy, but through some experiments I would have to see Tweetie worked best for me. It seemed to be the quickest and easiest to use. The interface is very nice as well.