In January, Twitter made a significant move by discontinuing support for third-party clients as part of its API changes. In response to those changes, Texas Monthly recently released a comprehensive feature profile on Tapbots, a Texas-based company responsible for creating Tweetbot and, more recently, Ivory for Mastodon.
In the profile, Amir Shevat, who is Twitter’s former head of product, revealed statistics that suggest the company may be too hasty to take the decision to discount apps like Tweetbot and Twitterrific. According to him, such third-party apps historically accounted for a remarkable 17% of all engagement on Twitter.
Since the downing of the Tweetbot, Tapbots, a developer who has been tasked by Shevat to have the necessary tools to continue making their third-party clients, has pivoted to focusing on Mastodon, which released an Ivory for iPhone and iPad.
Twitter may decide to reverse third-party apps again, but most developers will not take Twitter up on that offer. They were already hurt by Musk once and Mastodon and Bluesky-like services are already gaining surprising momentum.
