Twitter 6.23.1
Not exactly easy to pick up and use
Twitter is, has been, and always will be a bit of a mess. We’re talking about the service as a whole, not just the clients that we use on our smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. The official Twitter app is, without fail, just as cluttered.
Despite struggling to stay well organized with its offerings, Twitter has yet to find a way to convey all of its service in a simple and intuitive manner. As a longtime user of Twitter, you’ll probably feel right at home with the iOS client. As a newcomer, you’ll probably feel intimidated by the torrent of timelines, sections and subsections displayed as you first launch the app.
One thing Twitter does well visually is give you every bit of customization you need, so that your timeline looks and works uniquely tailored to your taste. Also, the main parts of the service are neatly broken down into four major tabs at the bottom of the UI, ensuring some degree of navigation.
Constantly on the move
Whatever Twitter does behind the scene, its official app will always require maintenance. Because of the constant shift in social trends Twitter gets adapted to the users’ needs on a regular basis, and sometimes that can spell confusion for those who prefer to remain accustomed to the basic functionality.
Luckily the app offers four major sections to work with so you can stay on top of everything while also being able to filter out the junk.
As any social app, Twitter will recommend people to follow, will ask for a list of your friends, will suggest settings to match your lifestyle, and will allow you to customize your account so you can look your best to others and be original. Notifications and alerts can be toggled on and off, albeit with a bit of patience and a spirit of adventure on your behalf.
The app has gotten some updates to improve on the user interface and it has managed to fix things up a bit, even though it still has a ways to go. For instance, there’s a relatively new design for your profile, which includes the big, tweets and photos.
The app allows users to send Direct Messages to groups, which enables them to have private conversations with a group of friends directly from the popular service’s platform. It’s further possible to shoot, edit and share videos on Twitter, making it all easier for you to share.
Using the app has also become a tad easier thanks to the interactive notifications added to the batch, which allow you to engage on Twitter while using other aps. You can even access your saved drafts while posting a tweet, which is, of course, quite handy.
How to get the word out
Tweeting out something is as easy as tapping the feather pen. You get to include photos and even a location, as well as the usual hashtags and @ mentions, either manually or based on Twitter’s suggestions.
Finding people and categories (music, sports, photography, etc.) can be done from your timeline view under the people button. But be careful adding new accounts. You’ll get stuck if you change your mind about something and want to go back. It’s a flaw that Twitter has yet to address. Quick tip: just hit the Home button on your iDevice, close and relaunch the app to work around this.
As far as the iPad version goes, you’ll be amazed at how much more usable Twitter becomes when you have a 10-inch screen to work with, despite the UI being practically identical. Unfortunately, smartphones are still our main Twitter machines.
The 4+ age rating we saw in the App Store is not appropriate. There's a lot of swearing done on Twitter, not to mention the explicit imagery some people toss around.
Portable version:
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0/5
Hits & Misses
hits
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misses
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Bottom Line
Design / UI6
Despite covering all bases, Twitter remains a cluttered experience and the official app itself is no different. Hence the low score. Unfortunately, we don’t see this changing any time soon. They need a Jony Ive over there. But it gets an extra point for matching Apple’s iOS 7 direction. |
Function7
It’s messy but it’s also reliable. Aside from an occasional hiccup or two, Twitter goes to great lengths to offer the most ambitious microblogging service in the world. The iOS app is a true testimony of that (when it doesn’t fix what isn’t broken). |
Security6
For all its benefits, Twitter sadly isn’t very private at all. But that's what you get when you want to be social, online. Also, the minimum age requirement listed on the App Store (4+) isn't appropriate. |
Battery6
Using Twitter means your phone is constantly talking to a server. And I mean constantly. It’s surprising how well they’ve optimized it to give you some pretty decent mileage, but it’s still something you want to turn off when you’re not using. |
Price9
It’s free and there are no nasty ads in it, but we can't give it max score. There’s something about Twitter that makes it feel like an advertisement, in and of itself. |
Compatibility8
Twitter Inc. is thoughtfully still offering the app for iOS 6 firmwares and above, meaning most iDevices are still supported. |
Takes everything from the social networking rulebook and even adds a few perks of its own
Specifications
- price:
- 100% Free
- current version:
- 6.23.1
- reviewed version:
- 6.23
- developer:
- Twitter, Inc.
- category:
- SOCIAL NETWORKING
- os version req.:
- 7.0
- age rating:
- 17+
- in-app purchases:
- No
- hits:
- 1028