In November, 9to5Mac brought you an exclusive interview on Twitter’s limitations on third-party developers with the Iconfactory’s Gedeon Maheux. In the original article, Maheux said that development on Twitterrific 5 for Mac had stalled due to Twitter’s strict limits on how many users can login to a particular application.
While Twitterrific 5 is the first application to have been stuck in development because of these limits, another popular client seems to have claimed the title of the first Twitter app for Mac to run into the token ceiling: Tweetbot.
For a full explanation on Twitter’s token limits and how they affect third-party app development and the Mac ecosystem, see this report.
[tweet https://twitter.com/tweetbot/status/559248885374136320 align=’center’]
Tweetbot for Mac disappeared from the Mac App Store early this morning as users began reporting that the app was no longer allowing new logins.
While it’s possible that this could be a glitch in Twitter’s system, 9to5Mac was previously told that the app was on track to potentially reach the limit around the end of 2014, and the app would likely have to be removed from sale at that time. While that didn’t end up being the case, we are only a month into the new year, so this could still be the case.
The disappearance of the application from the store indicates that this may not be a mere glitch on Twitter’s end.
We reached out to Tapbots developer Paul Haddad to find out how this turn of events could impact the future of Tweetbot for Mac. As many users running OS X Yosemite have undoubtedly noticed, Tweetbot currently suffers from a few bugs on the latest Mac operating system, and its design isn’t geared toward the new aesthetic.
We will update this report when we have a response.
For what it’s worth, Tapbots Mac developer Todd Thomas has doubts about hitting the limit:
[tweet https://twitter.com/toddthomas/status/559205284262846465 align=’center’]
Haddad, on the other hand, posted this vague tweet just two hours after the first reports of error messages:
[tweet https://twitter.com/tapbot_paul/status/559214165252788224 align=’center’]
Update: Although Tweetbot has not returned to the Mac App Store, the app has resumed accepting some new accounts since publication of our report, and Tapbots appears to be working on resolving whatever the issue may be. However, other attempts to login to a new account are resulting in a different error than before, as seen below.
What exactly that means for new users is unclear. It could be that a behind-the-scenes issue with Twitter is in the process of being resolved, additional tokens have been granted, or some users have logged into Twitter and deactivated their tokens, which then became available to new users.
Update 2: Less than two hours after the appearance of the above message, the original token limit error has resurfaced. The app seems to be switching back and forth between accepting a few logins and returning an error message.
Update 3: Tweetbot for Mac has reappeared on the App Store and is accepting new logins now. Twitter did not respond to multiple requests for comment on whether this was a legitimate token issue or the first instance of a false positive on this type of error.
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Said it before and I’ll say it again; if Twitter ever makes it so I can’t use Tweetbot, there’s no need for Twitter. I’d rather not have the service than endure their applications. That being said, I know Twitter doesn’t care.
The problem is that Twitter’s own application user base is getting decreased gradually for this reason they decided to provide limit to developers because the twitter client is free but developers doesn’t offer it for free, they charge customers, this probably the reason they have limited it.
I went into more detail as to why Twitter instituted these limits in the first post (the one about Twitterrific linked above), but essentially they just want to control the “experience” of how people use Twitter. They want to be able to manipuate the timeline how they see fit, insert ads and force people to look at them, and more. They can’t really do that in third-party apps right now, but they can in their own apps. By forcing people to move to official Twitter apps, they drive more people to see their ads and make them money.
@Mike Bingo
@Mike Then why don’t they just take a cut of Twitter Dev sales and have them install the same ads in feeds? Seems dumb. Then again, i bet the majority of Twitter users don’t even know other Twitter apps exist.
I have never seen ads unless I use Adblock so this doesn’t occur to me :P
@MikeBeas, I see nothing wrong with Twitter trying to make money with their product/service. The problem is trampling over the rights of that huge third-party client user base they allowed to build. Changing the rules… NOT COOL!
@GeniusUnleashed – Because they want to control the entire experience.
@Tony – AdBlock doesn’t remove Twitter’s sponsored tweets, sponsored accounts, or any of their other ads.
I with you on this. While I’m sad to see this happen in the desktop environment I’m OK with Tweetdeck if it comes to that but on iOS I wouldn’t be happy to have to use the official client and would likely stop using Twitter rather than give in and use the official app.
@Alberto – I agree for sure. I don’t care if Twitter wants to monetize. It just sucks that they’re being douchebaga about how they do it. Third-party developers made Twitter what it is today. Many popular Twitter features that exist today (like replies) were created by outside devs, and those apps were the big attraction that kept people (including me) coming back to Twitter in the early days.
Now Twitter is screwing over all of the people who got them this far. It’s sad to see, and it has a negative impact on the user experience.
To be fair, @replies and hashtags where created by Twitter *users* before they had a foothold in any client created by a developer. The smart developers just leveraged and extended the practice.
But your point still stands. It was that quick realization of trends and implementation into client features that allowed the Twitter service to iterate quickly into a more usable service.
For details:
http://log.maniacalrage.net/post/26935842947/the-real-history-of-the-reply-on-twitter
and
http://qz.com/135149/the-first-ever-hashtag-reply-and-retweet-as-twitter-users-invented-them/
Well finally. I don’t like the concept behind Tweetbot with the prices. Now Twitter might be a more standard
I was a heavy iOS Tweetbot user a year or two ago. Twitter’s own apps sucked backed then. They have improved a great deal since then. I still use both, Tweetbot for my business account, Twitter’s for my personal. Twitter’s apps are still missing a few nice Tweetbot features. I even paid again for Tweetbot 3 when it came out, even though I wasn’t happy about it. With Tweetbot for Mac, however, I also agree they went too far with the price. Tapbot explained the prices had gone up precisely because of Twitter’s token limitations. I simply did not buy it, out of principle, and stuck with the less than perfect Mac Twitter app for quick use, and Hootsuite for the heavy lifting. For a quick tweet I also use OSX’s different integrated options. Like I said in a previous post to @MikeBeas, Twitter encouraged third-party apps, changing the rules… not cool!
What principal, that you’re too cheap to pay $20 for an app you’d clearly use all the time? Hope the people that pay your salary don’t run into too many customers with your way of thinking. Jesus. TWENTY WHOLE DOLLARS!
Not all of us are dead billionaire like you, Stevie Boy!
Imagine a world where favourites weren’t retweets, your feed was actually your feed, they updated the several times forgotten OSX app, and encouraged a healthy ecosystem to make a globally important service even better.
Twitter is one of the few companies I rely on that doesn’t believe in listening and loving their users – and still can’t seem to get their business model right.
All the appearance of an accidental success run by a management team devoid of values.
Twitter is quickly becoming Facebook in all the worst ways.
Do you work for free? Does anyone work for free? Do you want twitter to go away? These are questions you should ask yourself when complaining about ads and twitter trying to make money like companies need to do to survive.
Kevin, it’s absolutely possible for a social network to monetize its product without jumping into all the irritiatnig “curated feed” garbage that Facebook and Twitter have both started doing.
> several times forgotten OSX app
Well they didn’t forget it, really. They just dont update it on purpose so that you’ll use their website.
Using twitter web (and their official apps) is a horrible experience, they don’t seem to understand the reason why their service is so popular.
It would be hoped that if they wanted to steer people to the web experience, they would at least add features the web client has never had like multiple accounts… Sure, we know we can use a browser extension or just jump into incognito mode, but the majority won’t know that.
That doesn’t sound that much different than Tapbots. They seem to have outright contempt, at times, for their own customers.
I say this as someone who happily purchased both versions of Tweetbot 2, the only version of Tweetbot 3 and Tweetbot for Mac.
In the Twitter ecosystem, the people who make money are the developers. That is a fact that Twitter should embrace, not fight. They could make money through the developers. For example, offer subscriptions to developers at several price tiers. Higher price tiers will allow more users using their app.
This way, everybody wins. Twitter wins because they make money. Developers win because they can continue to sell their app. And finally, the user wins because she can continue to make use of a free (possibly ad-free) service and use whatever Twitter client she wishes.
Hm, a solution like this could lead to Twitter effectively setting app prices. Devs would have to charge enough for their app to be able to buy into a higher token bracket. I suppose it’s really no different than how Twitter has inflated prices with its current system, though.
I have an issue with the developers not providing this information before purchase.
A nice warning on the app store warning you that you might not actually be able to use the app for the purpose intended shortly would have been nice.
I bought it for multiple accounts in November, but only added 2 of them. Now I can’t add any more?
I understant that this isn’t completely the developers fault but that didn’t stop them from taking my money 3 months ago when they knew this might be an issue.
That said – I hope it gets resolved.
The current way tokens are used is pretty short-sighted and it was evident from the beginning that it would create issues, especially for new Twitter clients launching after the policy was put in place. The simple solution is to allow an unlimited amount of tokens but to chargefor every token or every token, possibly either upfront or after a certain threshold. Possibly even have recurring charges, as well as the ability for tokens to expire so they can be put back into the general pool.
To the people who say they haven’t seen ads on Twitter: You have, you just don’t know it. These aren’t banner ads or anything super explicit. They’re Tweets promoted from corporate accounts that randomly appear in your feed.
Still hope they will change it to something like the concept I did: https://t.co/SuDhdQMRDP
It’s interesting that multiple twitter apps on Windows Phone and Windows 8 (Rowi and Metrotwit specifically) hit this limit long before any Mac/iOS app did. Rowi closed down in December 2013 because of this stupid limit.
Yep, I wrote about many of those apps in the Twitterrific article I mentioned here. Some Android apps have also reached the limit before any Mac or iOS apps. It’s really sad to see Twitter working so hard to crush innovative apps while harming both developers and users in the process.
Just because the limit has been reached on new users shouldn’t mean development stalls, there are still thousands of users who use it, and would appreciate an update for what was an expensive app to buy.
I can see where the limit ideally wouldn’t impact something like a bug fix update, but investing the time and money required to do a whole overhaul when no one else can buy the app would definitely not be worth it.
The reason it was pulled from the store, I think, is to prevent new people from spending the money on it only to find out that it doesn’t work for them. That would be the logical thing to do.
Gedeon Maheux really did a good job of explaining the similar situation with Twitterrific 5 and why the token limit stalled development on that project: http://9to5mac.com/2014/11/25/twitterrific-5-twitters-war-on-developers/
Twitter’s pettiness with its token limits is just pathetic. Why they can’t just mandate that ads appear within tweet streams for third party apps as a condition for api access is beyond me. I use Twitterrific on my iPhone and love it given its extended support for language translation etc. Should the token limit come down upon my favourite app I’d seriously reconsider whether I’d bother with the platform any longer, it’s not that important to me that I’d use their inferior app.
oh no, it’s a shame!
I use Tweetbot on iPhone & iPad, but I don’t have a Mac, I was planing to get one soon and it seems I am already too late :(
I gave Twitter web application, twitter for iPhone and twitter for iPad many tries, but I couldn’t stand any of them. no way.
so i just bought tweetbot but it seems that not authorising it on my iMac. so it means i wasted my money? Or how to solve this problem? tnx