Twitter for iPhone received a major update today bringing yet another user interface update for iOS 7 and a handful of feature additions.
Namely, users can now share images over Direct Messages, which is now featured prominently on the bottom tab bar. Previously, users had to rely on third party services for sharing links to images in DMs, but now with native image support images appear inline.
Photo sharing over Direct Message appears to only be supported in the official Twitter apps (iPhone, iPad, Android) and lacks an API, so photos shared over DM currently cannot be composed by third party Twitter clients like Tweetbot or Twitterrifc. Twitter for Mac also lacks support for DM photo sharing, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see it pick up support before third party clients.
The update also brings support for Safari’s Reading List allowing you to save articles from tweeted links for viewing later in Safari. This function was made available with the debut of iOS 7 so it’s nice to see it appear it Twitter’s iPhone app.
The update contains a handful of other features as well (full changelog below):
What’s New in Version 6.0
New design.
• Refreshed look and feel. Home, Activity and Discover now available by swiping in Timelines. Easier access to DMs.Share photos in Direct Messages.
• Send and receive photos via DMs.Notifications from your network.
• Choose to view replies, retweets, and favorites from only the people that you follow.Search got even easier.
• Access tweets from people you follow and near you, directly from search results.Safari Reading List support
• Save web articles to read later with Safari Reading List.
Twitter for iPhone is available for free on the App Store.
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Why don’t they just remove the character limits on DMs and be done with it to become a full fledged IM client? Full support by Apple and tight integration with Android is already in place.
So many people already have Twitter seems a bit of a no-brainer to me. Because people are probably still going to use hashtags in DMs Twitter can take people to channels which can be monetised with ads easily without pulling people out of the app.