Looks like Tweetbot, Twitterrific and other Twitter apps are going to be crippled – CNET

Third-party Twitter apps are expected to be crippled due to a coming change in Twitter's API.

Tapbots, an app developer, released a new version of its Tweetbot app for iOS devices due to a change in Twitter's API that will take effect on Thursday, according to 9to5Mac. APIs, or application programming interfaces, are software that allow two programs to talk with each other.

The reported change means the Tweetbot app is expected to lose several useful features, including instant timeline streaming on Wi-Fi, and push notifications for likes, retweets, follows and quotes. The changes are also expected to affect its Apple Watch app. After the API changes take effect, timelines will refresh every one to two minutes and push notifications will experience a similar delay, according to 9to5Mac.

Neither Tapbots nor Twitter immediately responded to a request for comment.

The reported changes come after Twitter said in April that it would delay its plan to pull support for apps such as Talon, Tweetbot, Tweetings and Twitterrific. The date for phasing out support, which would effectively cripple the third-party apps, was set for June 19. It was delayed to give developers "ample time to migrate to the new API," Twitter said.

However, Tapbots told 9to5Mac that it had been "forced to disable or degrade certain features." The company said "this is totally out of our control."

Gedeon Maheux, the lead designer of Twitterrific creator Iconfactory, said the API changes were regrettable though understandable.

"We understand the spread of bots, spam and trolls by bad actors that exploit [Twitter's] old APIs is bad for the entire Twitterverse," Maheux said in an email statement. "App's like the Iconfactory's Twitterrific helped build Twitter's brand, our contributions were small to be sure, but real none-the-less."

Some third-party developers have different opinions about Twitter's API change.

"This change is going to have very little effect on Talon," Luke Klinker, owner of Talon creator Klinker Apps, said in an email. "I do not think that these specific changes will affect the viability of any apps, long term. They are not destroying any functionality that can't be replaced through other methods."

Talon, Tweetbot, Tweetings, Twitterific and other third-party developers have started a campaign, Apps of a Feather, to protest the API change. The campaign asks users to write to Twitter to complain about the change.

Twitter's API change will roll out on Thursday and finish by Aug. 23, according to an Iconfactory blog post.

Tweetings didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.