Tech – tweetbot app

Apps, apps, apps; they’re a bit of a gamble. That little virtual square can allow you to engage in all manner of wholesome activities: the genocide of little green pigs using some severely mutated poultry species, the use of plants to annihilate zombies. Indeed, one can even play at being a budget samurai by mutilating innocent fruits (why not vegetables? They deserve it! What did a Strawberry ever do to you?).

However, for each of these successes there are many failures and, boy, can people screw up apps. The iAmAman app for example claims to allow you to track the ovulation cycle of multiple girlfriends (each of which gets her own personal password… presumably because each one is special). A Strip Pen app that’s marketed ‘for the family’ and therefore negates the very reason why anyone would buy the app in the first place is another bad one. And Hang Time: an app that actively encourages you to ‘throw your iPhone in the air to monitor its Hang Time’ (you can even share your high scores with your friends… assuming you still have a phone to share such information).

All of this means that there isn’t much recognition of useful apps, and this is a shame as there are some people who have genuinely thought about how to make people’s lives easier. Tweetbot is one of those apps. Now we here at TGJ have never been in this envious position, but, apparently, sometimes people have so many tweets they simply can’t keep up with the important ones. This app has several features for all you budding socialites that are very well thought through.

For example; you can follow multiple timelines on the same screen and create lists for your family, friends even ‘Directioners’ (so girlfriends of the band can organise those pesky death threats and /or Amanda Byrnes). It’s also very innovative in terms of conversation: simply swipe to the right on a specific Tweet or conversation thread and you can see it in detail. You can also tap on a picture or hold down on it to get options (delete, re-tweet, un-follow, re-follow, stalk etc). You can customise the tab bar as well. The latest version also allows you to see Instagram feeds (including the new videos). All in all it is an app that’s quite complex in what it does but very simple to use and a very useful one.

Tweetbot costs £1.99. For more information, or to purchase, visit itunes.apple.com

By Edward Hambro Rabben