People backing third-party Twitter clients Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, and Tweetings are warning users that their apps could lose significant features like push notifications and an auto-refresh timeline in June. The issue here is that Twitter will be putting “streaming services” which have enabled developers to carry out these functions in their apps to a stop after June 19th.
There is no certainty as to when this change will come, however, in response to the craze on Twitter, the company announced that it is “delaying the scheduled June 19th deprecation date.” In a thread, the developer relations account stated that the company “will provide at least 90 days notice from when the Account Activity API becomes generally available” and “more specifics on timing are to come.”
There are still questions regarding whether the new Account Activity API is robust enough for third party Twitter apps to render the same streaming services they offer. Twitter has since not allowed any outside developers to participate in the beta testing of the API. At best, it will only potentially restore the push notification side of things thus; third-party Twitter clients just won’t have any practical way of offering a live-updating timeline. Developers say, “You will see delays in real-time updates during sporting events and breaking news.”
Developers are raising the issue hoping Twitter will offer a solution and that will likely happen if the company hears lots of complaints that no matter the technical reasoning, the move will end up hampering the functionality and appeal of third-party Twitter clients. Twitter’s former director of product, Jeff Seibert, says it would be a “grave error” if the company does nothing.
App developers are therefore concerned that “many folks don’t realize that their favorite Twitter app is about to break, so awareness is the first step.” They further stated that, “Together, we may be able to get Twitter to constructively address this state of affairs before the June deadline.”
