During the next summer, Twitter is going to apply a series of changes to its API, a fundamental tool for third-party applications to work. The ways in which it will affect applications such as Heel.
Twitter changes its API: how it affects third-party applications
When we talk about third-party applications, we refer to applications like Heel, Fenix or the deceased Flamingo. These are apps that, taking advantage of the Twitter API, offer their own version of what the social network should be, regularly adding new functions and new, more daring designs. As you can guess, the Twitter API It is essential for all these programs, since it is what allows them to connect to the servers of the social network and offer access to all the content.
Starting this summer, Twitter it's going to change its API and that is going to be a couple of problems for all these applications. It's nothing particularly painful, but it will definitely show. Mainly, these are going to be the two problems that developers will face from August 2018:
- Nothing to update automatically: Some of these apps offered the option to automatically update the timeline of Twitter, so that, as soon as there was a new tweet, it appeared instantly on the screen. It is a method to keep up to date and not miss anything from the last hour. And it is a method that is going to disappear. To see new tweets, it will be necessary to refresh manually.
- No push notifications: If to date it was difficult to implement push notifications in third-party applications, from summer it will be impossible. Until now, "shortcuts" had to be found to be able to receive notifications, but the changes to be implemented will restrict these measures. Many apps depended on installing the official Twitter app to receive notifications through it, and it remains to be seen if that will continue to work.
These two changes alter, above all, possibilities for the future, and will be a headache for developers. Users will not be the most affected, since their experience with these apps should not change excessively, unless the functionalities are used in real time.
The token problem: the biggest limit imposed on other apps
The main problem of application development for Twitter therefore remains the token limit. The token usage they are tokens that Twitter grants to each application and that limit the number of users who can access Twitter using each one of them. When an application reaches its token limit, it is removed from the Play Store and it does not admit new users. This means losing the main method to update the app, losing access routes and cutting off developments.
When you get to token limit, Developers choose one of two ways: either they abandon the application completely or they develop a new one, usually with the same name and a 2 behind it, but changing enough to be considered a new app and receive a new batch of token usage so that new users can continue to enjoy the experience.
From Twitter they still don't touch this token limit and they don't seem to move in the opposite direction. Many people seek to download these third-party applications because they are not satisfied with the experience of the official application. Although from the social network they end up taking some functions of these applications, as a general rule they choose more to cut their developments rather than to encourage them.
The most recent example, as we say, is that of Flamingo one of the most popular apps to use Twitter on Android of the last few years. Despite being a paid app, many people considered it to be the best available on the market, and it recently reached its token limit due to all the people using it. As a result, your token from the Play Store is disabled, and cannot be downloaded from the app store Google Unless you bought it at the time and access the application history. A loss that many Android users still mourn.