Post by Admin on Jul 5, 2017 3:36:25 GMT
Comparing the best Twitter clients for Android (2017 edition)
For the longest time, the Twitter Android app just wasn't very good. Sure it was functional, but it was clear that Twitter was focusing more on its iOS client. Third-party clients were, for that time period, the absolute best way to use Twitter on Android devices. Even though the official app has improved drastically over the past year or so, especially with the Material makeover, there are still plenty of excellent alternative clients.
Many Twitter clients have been abandoned after hitting the API token limit, and since it can be hard to keep track of which apps are still in active development, I figure a comparison might be a good idea. So without further delay, let's jump into it.
Many Twitter clients have been abandoned after hitting the API token limit, and since it can be hard to keep track of which apps are still in active development, I figure a comparison might be a good idea. So without further delay, let's jump into it.
Official Twitter app
This wouldn't be a very fair comparison without factoring in the official Twitter client. Despite the vast amounts of third-party clients on the Play Store, I have always come back to this app because of push notification support. Of course, this isn't because the other developers are lazy. Twitter has intentionally crippled third-party clients for years by limiting API access, giving its client a competitive edge.
The app consists of four tabs at the top - the timeline, search/Moments, notifications, and DMs. A side panel reveals an account switcher, your lists, your Moments, a night mode switch, and a few other options. You can tap on each tab to reveal its contents, or swipe horizontally from any screen.
You can compose a tweet from the floating button on the timeline. From this screen, you can not only type out your message, but also embed multiple images, GIFs, polls, or your location. You also have the option of starting a Periscope live stream.
Like all of the clients on this list, the Twitter app has a few unique features, mostly as a result of the company not allowing other apps to access them. One is Moments, which are collections of tweets about a certain topic. Twitter itself curates a large number of Moments, usually related to recent news, on the Search tab. But anyone can create their own Moments as well, which can be helpful for multi-tweet rants and stories. Other neat features include filters for notifications, a night mode, and of course push notifications.
My complaints with the official app are relatively minor, especially since the app's Material makeover last year. By default, videos auto-play over cellular networks, which can be a costly annoyance to users not on unlimited data plans. In addition, the timeline often includes tweets that people you follow liked, which is just plain stupid. There are also ads on the timeline, which aren't a huge annoyance for me, but they might be for you.
In summary, the official Twitter client gives you access to all of the social network's features, but at the cost of ads and other minor annoyances.
Twitter Lite
Back in April, Twitter revealed a new client called Twitter Lite. Like many 'Lite' apps we are seeing from major companies, such as Facebook Lite and Skype Lite, this app is primarily designed to use less cellular data and load faster than the full application. It's also a Progressive Web App, which means it runs entirely in the browser while still acting like a native application. If you use Chrome and add Twitter Lite to your home screen, the browser UI is completely hidden.
Twitter Lite is very similar to the main Android app, both in terms of features and looks. You have the same four tabs, the same floating compose button, and so on. However, a few key features are missing. You can't upload videos, view or create Moments, or filter your notifications. You also can't use Twitter Lite with multiple accounts, which is the main reason I don't use the app more often.
Thanks to the technology of Progressive Web Apps, Twitter Lite can provide push notifications (if you enable them). Just like with native apps, notifications will continue to work even when the app is completely closed.
Twitter Lite already uses less data than the main app by default, by not auto-playing videos and GIFs, but there's also a more extreme Data saver mode as well. With this turned on, images and video only load when you tap them, and low-resolution versions of profile pictures will be loaded. Twitter Lite will even let you know how large an image or video is before you tap it.
Twitter Lite with Data saver enabled.
Twitter Lite is actually my client of choice on Chrome OS, and it works great on other desktop operating systems as well. If you open Twitter Lite in Chrome on the desktop, you can easily create a shortcut for it to make it look and feel more like a native application. If you enable push notifications, you will receive Twitter notifications as long as Chrome is running (even in the background).
Twitter Lite running on my Chromebook
If you have frequent connection problems or can't use much cellular data, Twitter Lite might just be the client for you. But if you need to use multiple accounts, you'll have to look elsewhere. It should also be noted that Twitter Lite seems to work best in Chrome.
Open Twitter Lite