The favorite Twitter app of many fanatic Twitterers has been completely renewed. Tweetbot 3 is a paid update, but is it worth it? We have tested the app.
Tweetbot 3 review
Now that Twitter has discontinued its official Mac app, Twitter users are at the mercy of third-party apps to read and post tweets from their desktop. Fortunately, Tweetbot on both iOS and macOS is the best alternative to Twitter’s own apps, and with Tweetbot 3 for the Mac takes another nice step forward.
Compared to Tweetbot 2, not that much has changed. The most important graphic improvement is the new Dark Mode, which covers the background of the tweets in black. Handy if you scroll through your timeline in the evenings. The design has also received a subtle makeover, with many smaller improvements. For example, every tweet on your timeline now has buttons to quickly respond, like, retweet or view the profile.
Video and gif previews
Images and videos are also larger than before, so you can see them better, but unfortunately also view fewer tweets on your screen at the same time. A major reason for this is the introduction of video previews. From now on, you no longer have to click on a link when someone posts a gif or video.
You simply move your cursor over the image to make it move. A small ‘gif’ or camera icon in the bottom corner shows what kind of media you are dealing with. A welcome addition that makes using Tweetbot just that little bit easier.
Switching between different timelines, lists and notification screens has also been simplified. You can now also add a timeline that only shows tweets with specific words. Handy if you follow hundreds of accounts and sometimes only need messages on a specific topic.
Twitter recently announced that a number of functions will not work as well or will no longer work in third-party apps from next month. That caused a lot of commotion, and the legitimate question from users whether it is still smart to purchase apps like Tweetbot. These sweeping changes have now been postponed by Twitter, and Tweetbot developer Tapbot says it has little concern. Chances are, the app will continue to do as it should, and in the worst case, notifications will arrive one or two minutes later.
Tweetbot 3 is the best Twitter app for the Mac
Tweebot 3 especially shows how nice a good Twitter app for macOS can be. Now that Twitter no longer offers one of its own, Tweetbot has become completely indispensable. Do you have a Mac and do you use Twitter? Then Tweetbot is the best way to use the service.
This is the first paid update released by Tapbot since 2015. If you are already using Tweetbot 2, there are not many improvements to justify the switch of ten euros. Developer Tapbot has confirmed that Tweetbot 2 will get at least one more update with bug fixes, but all new features and improvements will come in the third version from now on.
So it will mainly depend on the way you use Twitter. For example, the new lists and filter options are welcome improvements for avid Twitter users who have multiple accounts. Tweetbot 3 is without a doubt the best Twitter app for the Mac, and with version 3 it can go on for years to come.