Well, it's the end of an era. The world of third-party Twitter clients is officially dead.
Twitter has been sending signals that it could pull the plug on third-party Twitter apps for over a week now. Last week, a number of third-party clients like Tweetbot and Twitterrific started noticing issues with their connection with Twitter. Users had problems using the apps as well.
The apps were essentially broken for days, without a word from Twitter. Then, on Tuesday, the Twitter developer account announced that it was "enforcing its long-standing API rules. That may result in some apps not working."
Twitter is enforcing its long-standing API rules. That may result in some apps not working.January 17, 2023
Developers of third-party clients quickly pointed out that it was unclear what rules Twitter was claiming the apps were breaking and they still had not gotten those questions answered by the company.
Well, it appears that those questions have been answered with a big middle finger.
Twitter bans third-party clients
As reported by Engadget, Twitter has added a clause to its developer agreement that effectively kills off third-party clients.
The company has added a clause to "the 'restrictions' section of Twitter’s developer agreement was updated Thursday with a clause banning 'use or access the Licensed Materials to create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications.' The addition is the only substantive change to the 5,000-word agreement."
As a result of the clause, Twitterrific, one of the most popular Twitter clients, has discontinued the app and already pulled it from the iOS and macOS App Stores. Tweetbot has already shifted its focus to building its upcoming Mastodon client.
It seems that Twitter wants everyone to use its official app, where Elon Musk can serve you ads and push you to sign up for Twitter Blue, the company's paid subscription service.
We keep living in a new era of Twitter, for better or wo-worse it's definitely worse.
