Tweetbot is a favorite for many iOS Twitter users, and it has held the top spot for a while now. This is starting to change with a lot of Twitter apps stepping up their game, and creating real competition for other Twitter clients that are out there. The classic client Twitterrific has always been out there, but it is really making a new name for itself with version 5.0. The developer completely redesigned everything and equipped the app with a new set of navigation features. The app is a lot simpler, and easier to navigate around.
There is not a lot going on in this app, or a ton of features. You have the three main tabs that are located at the top of screen. Pull-to-refresh is integrated into all of the screens, and gives the app a natural feel. When you pull down the timeline and let go, a bird will start flapping its wings. Once it is finished refreshing the bird disappears into black and white crystal shapes. It is absolutely stunning. This bird does have a name, and you will be your new best friend. He is called Ollie. Try not to spend all of your time focusing on how awesome Ollie looks.
The next thing you will see is your timeline. It is a unified timeline, which means that the tweets of the people you follow, your timeline, @mentions, and all of your direct messages (DM) are sorted in chronological order. There are a lot of people out there who love this, while others do not. For those people who do not like this, there is an option in settings to disable the unified timeline. The other timeline tabs are @mentions and DMs, which as you would expect are separate from each other.
By tapping on a user’s avatar you are taken to their profile page. All of their stats and information are there. If you select the followers or following tab, you will be shown an image of everyone’s avatar instead of just a list of their username with an avatar next to it.
If you are someone who is into gestures, you have the ability to nudge a tweet from left to right in order to switch to reply mode. The tweet that you are replying to is shown below the reply space in tiny text so you area able to refer back to it any point. You can nudge from right to left to switch to a conversation view. When you are in conversation view, you are able to choose between two tabs that are located at the top of the screen. The first option is the default thread view, and the second is an alternate replies view.
At the top of the screen is your picture. By tapping on your avatar you are taken to the options screen where you can switch from the tweets view to your favorites, or to search. At the bottom you can access your accounts, change the formatting, and adjust all of your preferences. You have the options to add another username. You can change the theme, the font, or even the size of the font. You can choose between the dark (black) or light (white) theme and you can even adjust the brightness. There are so many fantastic options out there.
When you are in your preferences you have the options to choose between your sync services. You can choose between iCloud, and Tweet Marker. You also can choose the sync behavior, which includes none, show marker, or scroll to marker. This is also where you can choose to turn the unified timeline on or off. You can set the dark theme to automatically turn on at night, based on time, and you can clear bookmarking logins as well.
There is a help button that will tell you all about Twitterrific’s new gesture support. This is a great way to figure out how to best use the app for you, and to make it as simple to use as possible. You can attach the latest photo from the Camera roll, by tapping and holding the camera icon. To switch accounts, tap and hold your mugshot at the top left corner. To get more options you just tap and hold tweets, links, or avatars.
I enjoy using Twitterrific based on the fact it is simple, and it is fast. I have yet to find another Twitter app that holds up to Twitterrific when it comes to speed, but a lot of them have some features that Twitterrific might not. There is only one feature that I wish Twitterrific had that others already have, which is push notifications. I have to have another Twitter app on my phone just so that I continue to get notifications on my phone. It is not too expensive, at a price of just $2.99.
