By now, Tweetie 2 has probably stormed your iPhone. If not, you should check it out; in our opinion, it’s the best Twitter iPhone app out there (and yes, definitely worth the $3 [iTunes link]). But developer Loren Brichter isn’t resting on his laurels. Instead, he’s hard at work on Tweetie 2.1.
So what’s new? Well, there are a ton of small bug fixes, but also some pretty big additions. There are two that you’ll probably care the most about: New-style rewtweets and geolocation support. We got an early alpha build of 2.1 to try out, and it’s looking good.
Retweets
While Twitter has yet to enable the new-style retweets or geolocation for most accounts, Tweetie 2.1 offers a glimpse of how it will work. Tweets from accounts with the new retweet function show up in Tweetie 2.1’s stream. As promised, these are the tweets from the actual person who originally sent it, rather than the person doing the retweeting.
But Tweetie 2.1 highlights these retweets in a nice way. First of all, you see both the user icon for person who originally tweeted the item and the person retweeting it. The original tweeter’s icon is big, while the retweeter’s icon is small and stuck in the lower right hand corner (see image). These tweets are also tagged with a pinkish-red triangle in the upper right hand corner to let you know this is a retweet. Clicking on these tweets takes you to a page that shows you the tweet from the original source, but also says at the bottom “retweeted by @USERNAME.”
The way to retweet something in Tweetie 2.1 remains the same: You click on a tweet (or swipe a tweet in the stream) and hit the box with the arrow icon. The top option is “Retweet.” 
There’s a growing concern that Twitter’s new retweet rules will cause some confusion (it already has) in users’ streams. But the way Tweete 2.1 handles it is solid, both giving recognition to the original tweeter and showing the tweet to be a retweeted item by someone you follow. Other third-parties thinking about how to handle the new retweets should look to Tweetie 2.1 as an example.
Geolocation
Likewise, Tweetie 2.1 also shows off Twitter’s new geolocation support. Again, for accounts that have it turned on, these tweets show up in Tweetie 2.1 with a tiny red location pin in the upper right hand corner. Clicking on these tweets takes you to the tweet’s page which also has a little map preview below it showing what city the tweet was sent from. Clicking on this map loads up a larger Google Map inside of Tweetie 2.1 that pinpoints the actual location with a red push pin.
If you want to geotag your tweets, you hit the 140 character counter at the bottom of the tweet input box. This brings up tweet options including a new “Geotag” button in the upper right. Clicking on this will first load up Twitter to ask you to authorize the app to see your Twitter location. Assuming you allow this (and again, this isn’t yet turned on for most users — though it is live for some), Tweetie will places a small red pin right next to the 140 character counter to indicate your tweet is geotagged.
Lists
One thing not currently available in this build of Tweetie 2.1 is Twitter’s new Lists element. “In a perfect world Tweetie 2.1 will have list support, or at least experimental support for it. It should be 100% by 2.2,” Brichter said when I asked him about it. 
Twitter fully rolled out Lists to all users at the end of last week (after testing it for a few weeks with a group of users). Reactions to the feature have varied, but generally seem to be good. And third-parties are already popping up that are either built around the Lists API or are supporing it (Seesmic Desktop added it today).
Brichter also confirmed to me that Tweetie for Mac version 2 will support Lists as well. But he says that will be coming after Tweetie 2.1 for the iPhone is available.
Timing
Brichter says that if all goes to plan, Tweetie 2.1 could hit its final beta testing stage later this week. If that happens, he’ll presumably submit it to the App Store for approval soon after that. And those who were up in arms over the fact that Tweetie 2 cost money even for people who bought the original Tweetie, put down your pitchforks: Tweetie 2.1 will be a free upgrade for Tweetie 2 owners.
For those interested, here’s a big list of the changes in 2.1 so far:
- Geotag work
- New retweeting
- Post ‘message’ parameter through to custom Image endpoints
- Switch to WhatTheTrend
- Reorganized Search/More UI
Accessibility work- Image compression options
- Vidly, Mobypicture, and Posterous as video options
- New protocol handler to make it easier to install custom URL shorteners
- Fix TextExpander goofups
- Fix Japanese double-posting bug
- Fix email conversation
- Fix handling of iTunes links
- Google Mobilizer option (and custom Mobilizer)
- Fix rare hang when viewing reply chains
- Fix calling from address book page
- Fix cases where saving state doesn’t complete
- Disable browser rotation option
- Overlapr
- Report Spam
- Fix rare crash translating tweets
- Disable “mark as read” button when no unread – history=1 for j.mp
- Fix upsidedown image viewer and browser
- Disable Pinstripes option
- Fix tweetie:///post? style protocol handler
- Reorder Settings
- Link to Manual
Tweetie 2 is awesome, and can’t wait for it to be even more awesome.
direct appsto.re URL: http://appsto.re/tweetie2
I’m just hoping he brings back Ping.fm support some time soon
Some functions looks good, but I wouldn’t say it’s awesome.
These updates are looking a major ones. Hope it will take more market.
I’d rather see the new Mac version first, but glad to see Loren is still hard at work!
In 2.1, whenever I tag my geolocation to a tweet it says that it is tagged, but then when I look at it in the timeline there is no pin. LOREN I DON’T CARE IF YOUR NOT TWITTER, GIMME MY GEO AND RETWEET NOW.
yeah that is just because you don’t have geo enabled yet. i don’t either. hopefully soon!
can’t wait for the list support
the geolocation, or nearby doesn’t work now, hope it works on the next build
it does work for those with geo turned on on their account (like Ryan Sarver in the pics above, who works for Twitter)
this excites me. I hope they fix the kinks in it that was annoying also. :]
Good to know! Can’t wait!
Have you tried BirdFeed? (http://birdfeedapp.com/)
yeah love birdfeed http://www.tech...and-simplicity/
Why is there so much tweetie bias? @twittelator has more features & always 3 steps ahead of the competition but has to do it without the free propaganda and advertising of the “techati”.
Seems unfair.
Sooo True! tweetie has mac software, I guess is a exposure thing and sync thing. I used twitterlator too and like it better. Now I’m not sure. Tweetie 2 has a better UI. Tweetie also uses iphone default’s look, while twitterlator has a custom clunky feel to it. Twitterlator does have retweet, and geolaction. Twitter just needs to turn it on!
Here’s a thought. How about support for Spotify links? If one is mentioned in my tweet stream it would be nice to be able to open that in the Spotify app.
As it stands, there is no way to open a Spotify URI or HTTP link in Spotify on an iPhone. Not even via email or browser. Granted this is mainly Spotify’s fault, and it may not even be possible yet, but can’t hurt to ask!
I am just hoping after $6 and 3 tries Tweetie 2.1 actually works correctly. Only time will tell if Tweetie 2 is actually worth the money.
Tweetie 2 is great, but I need only one thing more! I want that tweetie download ALL TWEETS that I passed, not only 100, 200 or 300 – I need all tweets! Please.
Such a sweet app.
What about the recent display picture bug? Seems that Twitter isn’t using thumbnails anymore and is forwarding the original picture to the clients (web interface included), so non-squared pictures are being stretched, and many people who change their DP’s are getting a blank square on Tweetie.
Anyone knows if this is a Twitter bug or a change?
http://code.goo.../detail?id=1158
So will 2.1 cost $2.99 as well?
It will be probably a free upgrade for those who bought Tweetie 2.
nope free. says it in the post.
No dark theme? Really? Seriously? Options for pinstripes, and not a word about bringing back the dark theme? Very disappointed.
If you want a dark theme, try Tweetery: http://www.tweeteryapp.com
Looks good but we really need a way to auto-load new tweets when the app is started up. There’s nothing more annoying than having to manually fetch new tweets every time I start the app. Pleeeeasssseee fix this!
I’ve been using Tweetie during laundry visits and I’d say my clothes have never come out cleaner.
Thanks Tweetie!
Seriously though — I know many folks are going all bourgeoisie with duable goods but having a laundromat DM you when your load is done… or 5 minutes before… would be hella neat.
:%s/duable/durable/g
(p.s. would really like DISQUS or something similar added after the moderation benders have subsided)
I wish twitter would just hire this guy and release the client faster and free for people to enjoy. it seems like 99 percent of twitter apps on the app store coming out are scammy, incomplete get rich quick apps.
Please, stop whining. Jeez…
Some of us have put huge effort into our Twitter iPhone apps but have to price at $1.99 or $0.99 just to get any form of exposure.
Especially as some of us have more features than Tweetie 2 but no coverage whatsoever.
Tweetie2 is just awesome. The only thing I’m waiting for is the message being sent to the custom image service endpoint. Since Pixxia (http://pixxia.com) isn’t integrated in any apps yet, this is the closest thing, but we can’t use it (yet) because of the missing message. Arghh. Please Loren, hurry
I don’t agree with David. These applications provide a features that make working with twitter better. If all you want is free apps you get what you pay for.
These applications benefit twitter because it gives them exposure but I’m tired of seeing applications that offer the ability to tweeting or retweeting for a couple of bucks only because it’s faster than full featured applications which just isn’t the case unless you’re on a 1g iphone.
There’s plenty of free apps that give better experiences than these half hearted pay ones. One of the best examples right now is the free version of twitbird. It offers no ads, landscape typing and most of the regular features in a typical “pay” twitter client.
They are a great company. The money will come in soon enough
Well it won’t be coming soon if Twitter haven’t lauched the ReTweet API, which they still haven’t
I hope they allow users to customize the fonts. I find Tweetie a bit ugly right now.
It’s all very impressive, I’m preparing for the release by purchasing a new outfit and having my haircut! I rate Tweetie and I actually prefer using it to many of the Desktop clients, so if the situation should require a tweet I update from the iPhone, regardless of whether I’m in front of the PC or not!!! My punctuation is very poor today and I don’t have an App for that!!
Still no push, sad
great to hear they are fixing things but I don’t see any changes coming for DM’s. Last I checked these are not organized well and a bit confusing on which you received and which ones you sent. Any word on an update for that?
Really good application for iPhone users. As a Java mobile user I love “snaptu” and “twim” application.
The chosen options for displaying retweets seem fine.
However, I’d like to know what happens when multiple people you’re following do a retweet of the same thing. Please say these RT’s are grouped ( TweeterX via yourcontactx, yourcontacty and yourcountactz).