App review: Tweetie 2

review by Christine Chan


Tweetie, the iPhone Twitter app that set the standard for iPhone Twitter clients, has got a [paid] upgrade, and it’s exceeded the current standards and raised the bar yet again.

Tweetie 2 is a completely new app, rebuilt from scratch, thus calling for a new charge, even for existing Tweetie 1 owners. However, the cost was a small price to pay for an outstanding app that defines [Twitter] communication on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Everything has been changed. Well, except for having multiple account support.

The UI has been streamlined even more with smoother scrolling and super fast loading of tweets. There is only the Simple theme in white, which seems to be a step backwards considering that Tweetie 1 had multiple theme support.

The bottom tabs to view the timeline, mentions, DMs, and search now resemble that of Tweetie for Mac, which just features an icon without text, and smooth animations along the bottom when switching views. There is a glowing blue dot that indicates when there are new tweets or messages, which is a step up from the original, which didn’t indicate anything at all (though you still don’t get your numbers of new tweets).
There is also two new features in the UI – a search bar at the top to allow you to search and filter your tweets for something specific, as well as having no refresh button – rather you scroll all the way up to the top until you see a ‘Pull down to refresh/release to refresh’. The pull to refresh is very intuitive and goes along with the iPhone’s simplicity – think ’slide to unlock’. The previous version had a giant Refresh button that took up space at the top, allowing you to view less tweets. Loren Brichter (aka atebits) really adheres to the minimalism and simplicity of the device he works with in the new version.

In timeline view, you swipe to the right to reveal a slew of options, including Reply/Open Links (including images), Profile, Favorite, and Retweet/Quote/Post Link to Tweet/Mail Tweet/Translate. Before you get excited about Translate, be warned it seems to only work as well as Google Translate (which isn’t the best). Mailing tweet will be used with in-app email, so there won’t be any exiting of Tweetie thanks to the 3.0 software. There’s a quick animation that appears when you do the swiping option, which adds to the gorgeous UI (but that’s just my opinion, you can think differently about the animations).

If you decide to tap the tweet instead of swipe it, you’ll view the tweet in its entirety, as well as be able to view thumbnails of images if there are any (tap the link or thumbnail to get full screen view of said image). You can also see how the tweet was sent (via web, via Tweetie, via Tweetdeck, etc), and there are more options found at the bottom that are what you see when you swipe.

You can view a person’s profile from viewing their tweet, and when you do, you’ll be presented with their photo, name, username, and what appears to be a user number (not sure on this though). You also get their Twitter bio, location, and website if available.

Then there’s a grid telling you who they follow, who follows them, how many tweets they have to date, and how many favorites they have. Tap these numbers to view the item described. Unlike Tweetie 1, you can now view the following and followers. There is also a bar that will tell you if you are following them (unfollow) or you can follow them from there. Below that, you’ll see the other persons status on whether or not they are following you back.

Then there’s the Services bar in the profile, which will allow you to use various Twitter services like Tweet Blocker, Followcost, and Favstar.fm, as well as two more that can be found through the menu options. The More bar in a profile will give you block options or notification options (only notifications for specific users, unfortunately).

At the bottom of a profile, you’ll see some icons resembling a clock, the @, and a star. Tapping on these will allow you to see recent tweets (you can also get to this by tapping on number of tweets), @ mentions, and favorites (also able to get to this by number of favorites). At the top right hand corner, you can send a public reply to the person or send them a Direct Message (assuming you can, of course).

Another great little thing about Tweetie 2’s profile views is the ability to link to your address book. An icon resembling a vCard at the top of the profile will bring up the Twitter URL and bio as a note and allow you to create a new contact or add to existing, or share the contact.

A new compose tweet screen is another beautiful thing about Tweetie 2. You’ll see an empty space to type your tweet out, with a small box with remaining character count in the bottom right corner. The magic is within that small box – tap that remaining character count and you’ll see the keyboard disappear and give way to tons of options – Camera (now with video recording for 3GS), Photo Library (again, video clips for 3GS owners), Geotag (a link to your location by Google Maps), add multiple @usernames by going through a list, add hashtags by searching through recent hashtags or creating your own, and shrink URLs (URL shortening services selectable by the Settings option under Accounts).

Now with support for multiple attachments and drafts. Add multiple images or videos and you can then view what you’re sending by small bar in the composing screen labeled ‘attachments’ – you can also delete images and video if you change your mind, something you were unable to do in Tweetie 1.

The magnifying glass icon is the Search screen. From here, you can search for keywords (and even save them for future reference) and even Nearby, which allows you to view tweets plotted on a map with blue speech bubbles as well as a list view. On the map, you can tap one of the blue icons and a bubble featuring the tweet will pop up. Trends can be viewed in this screen as well, a welcome change from having to go through multiple screens in Tweetie 1.

Multiple draft support has arrived, which can be viewed when you go into the ‘More’ tab, marked with the ‘…’ icon from the main screen. Delete drafts, edit them, or send them all. atebits has even added support to send your drafts to the Birdhouse app, if you use that. You can view your profile, favorites, and go to specific users from this screen as well.

Settings has moved from the main iPhone Settings to within the app. It’s a bit tricky to find, but it’s there. Simply go to More (or any of the tabbed screens), then there will be a button at the top for Accounts, which is where you will manage your multiple accounts (if any) and there will be a Settings button at the bottom left. You’ll be presented with basic settings, and an Advanced option, which will uncover more configurability. Safari bookmarklet can also be found here. If you use TextExpander, you’ll be happy to know that you can use Tweetie 2 with it – settings are under Advanced.

Offline mode is also a brand new feature – you can read, tweet, favorite, follow, and save to Instapaper even if you don’t have a data connection. All of your actions will be synced as you get a signal. Tweetie 2 will also save your spot if you need to exit the app for any reason – open Tweetie again and it will pick up exactly where you left off.

Conversation mode has arrived! In the previous Tweetie, you had to follow conversations by tapping on each ‘in reply to’. That’s changed now, when you tap the first ‘in reply to,’ you’ll get an entire threaded conversation view of everyone involved. DMs are threaded too, though there seems to be a bug where you won’t get all your DMs unless you missed some. There’s no pull to refresh on the DM screen either, while there is with the main timeline and mentions.

And if you complained of no landscape support in the previous Tweetie, you’ll be happy to know that has been included in Tweetie 2 as well. Those that hate landscape or auto-rotation overall, can turn it off in the settings.

Among other things are improved avatar caching, auto-refresh (can’t set own time intervals though), refresh-all, full Twitlonger support (Tweetshrink seems to have been left in the dust), hashtag definitions just like on twitter.com, and many more. It’s a complete overhaul of the app, so it’s guaranteed that users will keep finding many more things over time.

A great update to what was already a great Twitter client. Just needs themes and a few kinks with bugs.

Tweetie 2 is available for $2.99 in the App Store.