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Twitter blames iOS 8, iPhone 6 launch for loss of 4 million monthly active users

Twitter CFO Anthony Noto announced today that the social network was placing the blame for 4 million lost users squarely on Apple’s shoulders, saying that the company had “lost approximately 4 million net users due to rollouts of iOS 8” during an earnings call.

The logic here, Business Insider explains, is that the Shared Links section in iOS 7’s version of Safari automatically updated to pull in the latest links from a users Twitter feed. In iOS 8 this feature has been shifted to use a manual refresh. As a result, users who were previously counted when their phones checked for those shared links were no longer listed among the service’s monthly active users.

But Twitter wasn’t done playing the blame game just yet. The microblogging service went on to say that as many as 1 million users had upgraded their iPhones and simply forgotten their passwords or failed to reinstall the Twitter app, leading to even fewer active users thanks to Apple.

Overall Twitter reported 288 million monthly active users for Q4 2014.

Update: Probably with a little push from Apple, Twitter now says:

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Comments

  1. Tony Bushmire - 9 years ago

    Ok….Twitter is just stupid. Just because an app automatically pulls in links, does not make the user an active user. So the fact that they lost 4 million active users because of the automatic procedure….makes them NOT active users to begin with. And if you forget your damn password or forget to reinstall the app, that is the users dumb ass fault. What a crock of shit

    • Avenged110 - 9 years ago

      And let’s not even consider that they “forgot” to reinstall the app intentionally haha

  2. Zac Hall - 9 years ago

    LOL

  3. iRikal - 9 years ago

    Maybe…just maybe I stopped using Twitter because it became less and les relevant? Maybe?

  4. DonRSD - 9 years ago

    Only reason I use Twitter os for Nike Store tweets.

  5. Megan F (@nychic099) - 9 years ago

    Maybe if they made their app better they would have more users.

  6. Sterling Miller - 9 years ago

    When all else fails, blame someone else for your irrelevancy.
    Evidently Apple is to blame for a bad economy in Finland, Twitters stupid users, GT’s lack of sapphire production, China’s Labor issues, music’s downfall according to Pink Floyd, need we go on?

  7. hijaszu - 9 years ago

    Well, maybe it’s time for the investors to ask the question: why those users were counted active on the first place? For me it seems that it were: a) automated software processes and b) users that were inactive or careless enough about the service to not request a password reset.

  8. Chayuth Pirotesak - 9 years ago

    OK. If any user even care to use Twitter, they would recover their password and install the app. So the loss of users here is the blame to Twitter not doing their job to retain them. Not iOS fault.

  9. James Godwin - 9 years ago

    I blame Apple every time I forget my password too.

    I don’t know who is more clueless, the CFO or the people who actually invested in Twitter.

  10. chrisl84 - 9 years ago

    Sounds more like iOS 7 overstated active users by 4 million.

  11. TechPeeve (@TechPeeve) - 9 years ago

    not to take up for iOS 8, but just maybe 4 million people realized twitter is a huge, narcissistic, waste of time!?

    • jrox16 - 9 years ago

      I can’t wait for people to realize the same about FaceBook, which is far worse in those respects IMO.

  12. scumbolt2014 - 9 years ago

    No. Twitter is too blame for losing users. All the ads on my timeline has made me use their service less and less.

  13. jrox16 - 9 years ago

    LOL, what a bitch [Anthony Noto]…

  14. mynotdailyjournal - 9 years ago

    Blaming the users could be a sign of trouble in the company.

  15. Cameron Scott - 9 years ago

    I tried using twitter on several occasions, to see what the fuss has been about, and I just cannot get into the program. I grew up on technology and I find twitter a little confusing to use as well as uninteresting after a few minutes. I find the reason behind their loss of users to be far reaching.

  16. I actually use Twitter more since iOS 7/8 ^^

  17. iRikal - 9 years ago

    You know… i’m re-reading this ridiculous Twitter claim and i just can’t get beyond the fact that companies that find themselves on the slow sliding path to obsolescence keep accusing Apple of all the evils of this world. Turns out that they were really happy when they saw the iPhone come out and actually started getting interest ed customers in but….failing to innovate your product invariably leads to decline in interest of your user base. So, instead of blaming Apple for your loss of users Twitter… maybe it’s time you reinvent your service into something more useful? Personally i started getting tired of the 1-2 lines of comments from boring personalities… not counting the fact that you now have decided to push me publicity and “promoted posts” in my timeline. If that’s the price to pay to have your service then, i will live without.

    Funny how LinkedIN didn’t fall into obsolescence despite the same changes…