The new versions of Twitter for iPhone and Android are live, bringing support for Twitter’s expanded tweets, ambient notifications, autocomplete for search and more. The update brings a bunch of improvements to the interface, including tappable avatar icons that direct you right to the profile of a Twitter user and performance enhancements.
Expanded Tweets will display additional media in the space below the detail view of a Tweet. This could be media like images or video. There are also summaries for news articles and more, but the experience is rolling out gradually with partners like MLB, Kickstarter, The Atlantic and Etsy.
Notably, the indicator that shows you which client a tweet came from is missing, as we discovered this weekend. This could be another piece to Twitter’s increasingly insular puzzle as it emphasizes its ‘official’ experience over those had via third-party clients. Or it could just be a design decision. Either way, it’s a step backward for client discoverability, as people will now no longer see where a Tweet came from, it will just be ‘from Twitter’.
The app also gets a shiny new icon that fits in with its ‘rebranding’ initiated last month, in which Larry the bird got a makeover.
A few other notable additions include the ‘ambient notifications’ that are similar to the ones that have been around in third-party clients like Tweetbot for some time. These will pop down while you’re reading twitter to alert you to your chosen events.
The notification system has now been expanded as well. It allows you to set a notification for every new Tweet or Retweet from a given account, something that most third-party clients do not do. Note that this is completely optional and not enabled by default.
Twitter has also beefed up search autocomplete, in tune with its recent improvements to search on the web. The apps also now has support for Twitter’s expanded Events pages, like the ones it has been rolling out for Nascar races.
Twitter for iPhone release notes:
- Expanded Tweets: when you view Tweet details containing links to partner websites, you can now see content previews, view images, play videos and more [please note: this feature is rolling out gradually]
- Enhanced experience around selected events with the best Tweets and photos from those involved
- Push notifications for Tweets: choose to receive notifications from people you follow anytime they tweet or retweet
- Ambient notifications: enables you to see brief non-interruptive notifications in the status bar while you are using the app
- Improvements to search autocomplete for users
- Discover: now indicates when new stories are available for you to view
- Tappable avatars that take you directly to user profiles
- Performance improvements
- Support for password entry in app when experiencing authentication issues
- Hungarian language support
- Updated with new Twitter bird
- Many other tweaks, polish, and bug and crash fixes
Twitter for Android release notes:
- Expanded Tweets: when you view Tweet details containing links to partner websites, you can now see content previews, view images, play videos and more. Note: this feature is rolling out gradually
- Push notifications for Tweets: choose to receive notifications from people you follow anytime they tweet or retweet
- Improvements to search autocomplete for users
- Discover: now indicates when new stories are available for you to view
- Search: various improvements and fixes
- Tappable avatars that take you directly to user profiles
- Performance improvements
- Updated with new Twitter bird
- Many other tweaks, polish, and bug and crasher fixes
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