Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Fenix, Talon, and other third-party Twitter apps are broken; Twitter has given no explanation and developers say they haven't heard back
The past several weeks since Elon Musk's takeover have seen Twitter in turmoil as rapid changes hit the platform …
9to5GoogleBen Schoon
Context & Ripple Effects
Twitter had already signaled a tighter relationship with independent clients when it ended legacy API support in 2018, citing technical and business constraints. The sudden failure of Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Fenix, Talon and peers turns that long-running access risk into an immediate service disruption.
The lack of a response is consequential because Twitter soon added a developer-agreement ban on third-party clients, while later paying API customers also reported outages and weak support. Together, the coverage describes access becoming both more restricted and less predictable for developers.
First-order effects
Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Fenix, Talon and other third-party clients lose functionality immediately, leaving their developers unable to tell users whether Twitter will restore access.
Twitter centralizes the user experience around its own client while developers face an unexplained interruption and no stated remediation path.
Second-order effects
Independent developers must treat Twitter integration as a less dependable product dependency, especially after the later formal ban on third-party clients.
API customers face a broader support and reliability problem: later reports of outages affecting paying developers suggest payment alone does not ensure stable access.
Third-order effects
Twitter’s control of the access layer shifts platform risk from the operator to client developers, favoring services and features distributed through Twitter’s own interface.
If this pattern persists, third-party social clients become a structurally fragile business category: platform-policy changes can eliminate their core functionality without a migration period.
The trend: Social platforms are asserting access-layer power by narrowing independent-client access and making developer participation contingent on operator-controlled rules and infrastructure.
@caseynewton@mastodon.social
Casey Newton on mastodon
Tweetbot broken for anyone else?
@atomicpoet@mastodon.social
Chris Trottier on mastodon
Word is that 3rd party Twitter clients can't access Twitter right now. — Either this is an outage or a new “policy decision”. — Whatever the case, this is bad news for Twitter's survival.
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social
Sean Heber on mastodon
Suspecting this is somehow based on app usage - Twitterrific for macOS appears to still be working and has a different Twitter app id.
@glindsey@mastodon.social
@glindsey@mastodon.social on mastodon
Update: Twitteriffic, other third-party clients also affected. One user reports Twitter's OAuth server is returning a 404, which would definitely explain it. So the question is... deliberate, or is Daddy Musk randomly shutting off servers again, possibly while extremely high?
@chockenberry@mastodon.social
Craig Hockenberry on mastodon
@paul @caseynewton Can confirm: we are currently suspended on iOS. Weirdly, macOS is fine.
@tweetbot
@tweetbot on x
Tweetbot and other clients are experiencing problems logging in to Twitter. We've reached out to Twitter for more details, but haven't heard back. We're hoping this is just a temporary glitch and will let you know more as soon as we know more.
@pattymo
Patrick Monahan on x
If Twitter killed the API so third party clients don't work, that would deserve zero Reddit gold or whatever they're looking for here. Negative Reddit gold, even
@carnage4life
Dare Obasanjo on x
A friend mentioned to me that notifications no longer work since they don't get notified of my tweets. Now all 3rd party Twitter clients are broken. The expected slow decay of Twitter is happening and it's depressing because none of this had to happen. https://9to5google.com/...
@evacide
Eva on x
Is the Twitter API just down or did Twitter unceremoniously kill it? I give it even odds.
@hilzfuld
Hillel Fuld on x
So the Twitter API is down so there are two options: 1- It's a temporary issue that'll be fixed momentarily. 2- Musk just killed the API and sent all 3rd party apps and millions of power users to the grave. I sure hope it's 1 because that would be a death wish for Twitter. 🙏
@katebevan
Kate Bevan on x
If this is deliberate, it's incredibly stupid, as it will drive power users away https://twitter.com/...
@basicappleguy
Basic Apple Guy on x
Tweetbot & Twitterrific are both unable to authenticate & access Twitter... https://twitter.com/...
@psythor
James O'Malley on x
It's *very* ominous that it is numerous third party clients that are not working, and other API users appear to be fine. https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans
Benedict Evans on x
(I was just thinking that Elon hadn't done something dumb to make Twitter worse in at least two weeks, and here we are)
@eastdakota
Matthew Prince on x
It's as if Twitter were running through the perfect playbook to ensure I no longer regularly check its feed. https://9to5google.com/...
@benedictevans
Benedict Evans on x
Has Twitter deliberately just blocked all third-party apps or is that another screw up? (The native Twitter UX is so bad, and getting worse, that I avoid if at all possible)
@aurahack
Aura on x
twitter api is down and if it's for good i am absolutely never using twitter on my phone again i'd rather eat glass than use the official app
@mikefinger
Mike Finger on x
While everyone complained about ads and nonchronological timelines, I was over here staying quiet about Tweetbot and hoping the doofus overlord wouldn't notice, but tonight it looks like he finally killed it.
@jonyiveparody
@jonyiveparody on x
Using the official Twitter app after using Tweetbot for over a decade: https://twitter.com/...
If this is the end for @tweetbot, I will miss it terribly — made my Twitter experience better for a decade. https://twitter.com/...
@jordonaut
Jordan K. Green on x
Tweetbot goes down and I get on the iOS app for the first time in forever. Literally me right now: https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@mirthe_
Mirthe Mertens on x
If this turns out NOT to be temporary, I'm gone. I hate the Twitter website and app, and refuse to use it. Too much junk there. @tweetbot makes Twitter enjoyable for me, so if Musk doesn't allow for third party apps to be used anymore, I'm gone. https://twitter.com/...