Social

What Remains of the Clients We Loved

I’ve downloaded thousands of apps as an iOS aficionado since day one. But none have typically inspired me as much as the third-party social media clients that helped build the industry as we know it today. I’m talking about Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Echofon, Twittelator, Tweetie, Alien Blue, Apollo, Narwhal, Comet, among many others. These apps all found ways to offer unique experiences to users that improved upon the original product. In some of these cases, apps were acquired by the platform and twisted and reshaped into first-party clients like Tweetie and Alien Blue which became the X and Reddit apps we have today.

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Bluesky Can Also Be Your New Instagram and TikTok, Not Just Twitter

If you’ve been looking to escape the big social media platforms, but still stay somewhat connected and entertained, I have the apps for you. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Bluesky as a platform, though it would be nice to get some polished third-party replacement clients. That being said, the official Bluesky app is good enough for reading the feed, sending messages, and checking the news. But what if you’re looking to escape Instagram or TikTok?

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Tapestry is the Best Feed Reader Yet, and it Brings Twitterrific Nostalgia to Boot

Today the legendary development team at The Iconfactory finally released their long awaited feed reading app: Tapestry. I had regretted not contributing to the Kickstarter campaign, but man am I glad more than enough other folks did. Tapestry is a great app. It feels modern and new but has clear echoes of Twitterrific all throughout. Twitterrific was one of my all-time favorite apps. As someone obviously addicted to microblogging, my interest in these client apps stems way back to the earliest days of the App Store.

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Where are the Bluesky Clients?

Let’s be clear, Bluesky has handily defeated Mastodon to be the main alternative to the big microblogging networks. It may be smaller than Threads or X, but it’s still far larger than the platform named after the long extinct prehistoric creature. Mastodon currently has around 9 million users, while Bluesky has just broken 30 million. Recall that Mastodon has been around for almost a decade, while Bluesky really only launched about two years ago.

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