Twitter to Discontinue TweetDeck for iPhone, Android, and Air-based Desktop

Recently, Twitter has announced that it will be discontinuing various versions of its TweetDeck apps in order to focus more on the app’s web client. The apps in question are the versions out for Android, iPhone, and Air-based clients. The apps are expected to be removed from their app stores in early May, and will stop functioning shortly following their removal. In addition to this, Twitter is also removing Facebook integration.

These versions of the app run off of version 1.0 of Twitter’s API, which has recently been replaced by 1.1, and due to this the company cautioned that performance of the app has the possibility of being shoddy until it finally halts offering these apps entirely. Even with the API update, the apps that run on newer desktop clients won’t be removed. However, they still haven’t been updated with version 1.1 of Twitter’s API.

In a blog post addressing this discontinuation, the TweetDeck team stated,
“[To] offer a great product that addresses your unique needs, we’re going to focus our development efforts on our modern, web-based versions of TweetDeck. We think these web and Chrome apps provide the best TweetDeck experience yet, and that they are the apps in which you’ll want to see us add new capabilities first, followed closely by our Mac and PC apps.”

With the announcement of this change, Twitter recognized that not every user will be happy with this and apologized in advance to the affected individuals. That being said, the condolences likely won’t provide relief to TweetDeck users. However, this move doesn’t come as a surprise, as Twitter has been restricting third-party apps for some time now, and now the company has focused its efforts on its own.