tollie.org/blog thoughts and reflections of Tollie Williams

Quick review of Twitter apps for the iPhone

Here's a very short blog comparing Twitter apps for the iPhone:

Executive summary: Tweetie wins. Tweetsville in a very close second.

• Hahlo - web app. Slightly slow, and slightly weak on the timeline view.
   
• Twitterrific - basic and minimalist. I don't like the way they update your location to GPS coordinates. That was a gimmick in the early days to show off the 3G's GPS, IMHO. They may have changed this behavior in later versions. Still might be best choice for very very light (non-techy) Twitter users.
   
• Twinkle - the best feature of this app was its nearby feature and the posting of photos, but the nearby is very, very spotty - missing hundreds of tweets - and the photos are only visible to Twinkle users.
   
• TwitterFon - when I was trying Twinkle, I had to use TwitterFon as a backup for when Twinkle got moody. TwitterFon is as basic as they come. Update: TwitterFon has added what is essentially threading and context-specific views- like Tweetsville has. Useful, but not enough to beat out Tweetie.
   
• Twittelator Pro - paid for this app because it was the first one that offered multiple Twitter account integration. Wasn't worth it. It feels like the UI was designed by an elementary student learning Visual Basic. Just an emphatic "no."
   
• Tweetsville - has been my staple Twitter App for a while now, and will remain on my phone alongside Tweetie. Tweetsville has the best Timeline view of all the apps, IMHO. The timeline view is minimalist and concise making it easy to quickly read. Unfortunately, it's rather prone to sluggishness when dealing with massive amounts of tweets. And except for multiple accounts, it matches Tweetie feature for feature. It displays direct messages like iChat, grouping them by person rather than Inbox / Send. So if you're only responsible for one Twitter account and don't care about location based discovery, Tweetsville is probably the app for you.
   
• Tweetie - If you have multiple Twitter accounts, Tweetie wins by a mile over Twittelator Pro. It also feels a bit snappier than Tweetsville. Everything else ties with Tweetsville, except for the Timeline view, where I prefer the simplicity of Tweetsville's view. I also prefer Tweetsville's Direct Message view. However, like Tweetsville Tweetie does have trends, search, and the whole feature set, but it does it for multiple accounts. So if you're responsible for more than one Twitter account, Tweetie for the win. Update:I almost forgot: Tweetie also includes "nearby" search that works (unlike Twinkle), which helps set it clearly ahead of Tweetsville.

Please add your thoughts or cover anything I missed in the comments. (You can now log in with your Facebook account.)

Update 2: Tweetie clearly pulls way ahead, now with a compacted Timeline view.

No related posts.