Jan 20, 2023 10:51:00

Official announcement that Twitter will not allow any third-party apps

In January 2023, Twitter suddenly

blocked out third-party client apps . Regarding this, Twitter only said , ``Twitter enforces old API rules.As a result, some apps may have problems operating.'' However, we have officially announced that we have banned third-party client apps.

Developer Agreement – Twitter Developers | Twitter Developer Platform
https://developer.twitter.com/en/developer-terms/agreement

Twitter's new developer terms ban third-party clients | Engadget
https://www.engadget.com/twitter-new-developer-terms-ban-third-party-clients-211247096.html

Twitter officially bans third-party clients after cutting off prominent devs | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/19/twitter-officially-bans-third-party-clients-after-cutting-off-prominent-devs/

Twitter officially bans third-party clients with new developer rules - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/19/23562947/twitter-third-party-client-tweetbot-twitterific-ban-rules

On January 13, 2023, an authentication error occurred in some third-party client apps, and a bug occurred that prevented the timeline from being updated. Paul Haddad, developer of the third-party client application 'Tweetbot', said that the sudden unavailability of Twitter's API was ' intentional '. Twitter said that the third-party client app was unavailable because it violated Twitter's API rules, but did not disclose the details.

Twitter finally officially mentions third-party client failure - GIGAZINE

After that, Twitter quietly updated the developer agreement on January 19, 2023, adding an item prohibiting ``alternative or similar services of the Twitter application, use of or access to licensed materials that create or attempt to create products.'' Did. This provision, which did not exist in the Developer Terms prior to January 19, 2023, will prevent the creation of third-party client apps for Twitter. The updated new developer agreement is a long sentence of 5000 words, but it seems that only the above sentence was added in this update.

Third-party client apps like Tweetbot and Fenix have loyal followings because they don't have ads or other features that users dislike. Prior to 2021, Twitter updated its developer policy to remove items that discourage app makers from duplicating core services and improve relationships with third-party app developers. However, with the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, the idea of 'handling with third-party developers' seems to have disappeared.

The Android version of the third-party client application 'Fenix' has already been removed from Google Play, but the iOS version seems to still have access to the API. Fenix developer Matteo Villa said, 'I've left the app working fine on iOS and people are still buying it, and I'm wondering if this should be removed as well. ” commented to Engadget.

In addition, it is said that other third-party client applications have also been deleted from the app store.