Tweetsville is another Twitter app from the developers of Twinkle. Some have asked why create another Twitter app instead of add features to Twinkle. If you don’t already know, Twinkle isn’t just a Twitter client. It is it’s own messaging system built on Tapulous’ system. It also requires a Tapulous login where Tweetsville doesn’t. Tweetsville also costs $3.99 and Twinkle is free. Tweetsville seems to be built for exactly what users were asking for in a Twitter client.

It has pretty much every feature you can think of: timeline includes your and your friend’s tweets, replies, direct messages, search, trends, favorites, & history. The only feature not out in the open is a nearby feature. You can do this by doing an advanced search and setting the distance but it’s not it’s own tab like Twinkle. Right now there are only two designs, Balloons and Simple. Simple allows for more tweets to fit on the screen. I was getting some crashes on the Timeline tab when I would scroll down and icons would try to load. We had this same problem with Twinkle when it first came out. The more I’ve use Tweetsville the less it’s crashed. I’ve had no problems anywhere else in the app.

Recent Twitter for Tweetsville:

Screenshots:

A quick preview of Twinkle 1.2 reveals new tapable @ replies, blocking, and prettier image attachment UI. Twinkle is a Twitter client for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Here’s a screenshot:

Click here to download Twinkle via the App Store.

Click here to download Twinkle via the App Store.

Tapulous has released some info on the upcoming features planned for Twinkle. From what I’ve read, I’m very pleased. They warn that not all features may make it into version 1.1 but here is a breakdown:

- They are keeping the Tapulous account/service. (need for pictures and nearby feature)
- Future support for FriendFeed and other services.
- Multiple accounts
- Option to force Twitter info like avatar, user name, etc., take priority over Tapulous info.
- Built in web browser (for checking out links embedded in tweets)
- Clickable @replies
- Less annoying alert sounds (I would love it if there were a few choices!)

Overall, listening to the users is a great step to a perfect app and Tapulous and Twinkle are on their way. You can read the entire release here or at the developers blog at otierney.net. Make sure to leave them a comment so they hear your voice for future updates and let them know what you love so far!

It’s been a long while since I last updated my blog, but for good reason. I’ve been hard at work on the next generation of software, also known as iPhone. My first project that I get to show all of you is Twinkle, available on the app store. The launch has been delayed for awhile, but it has gone pretty well overall. We have an amazing amount of users for only 2 or 3 days of being available, but the ride isn’t quite over yet. There are some hiccups, a few in particular, so I’d like to talk about them.

Why do you need a Tapulous account to use Twinkle, and what exactly is it.?

Well, the reason is we’re building a network, and using Twitter as the first of many gateways. Many people have heard of or know this concept as “friendfeed.” We’re shooting for nothing less, and are planning for the future by supporting multiple accounts. We want to do certain things that friendfeed isn’t capable of, like hosting pictures for our Twinkle Shots, or embedding location information into tweets like we do for our Nearby tab. Neither of these features would be possible or anywhere near as seamless had we not made the decision to build our own network, with Twitter as the first service.

What we don’t want to do however is pick favorites. This means that even if some other service (if one exists) supported image attachments AND locationing, it still doesn’t have the number and activity of users from Twitter. So, we went where the users are with Twitter as our first network.

What many people want is just a Twitter client, and I’m sorry to say as a basic design decision, that’s just not what Twinkle is or is meant to be. You’re welcome to use it as a dedicated Twitter client and we’re trying really hard to make it a first class client for nothing but. We aren’t there yet, and I’m happy to see all the suggestions and feedback pour in. I’d like to address a rather common one which is: Why can’t you disable the Tapulous “stuff”? Well, we didn’t get time to do that! It’s definitely a popular request, and we need to consider how that will impact the application for one very important reason: Twinkle’s Nearby view depends on Tapulous network integration. If everyone just decided to turn off the “Tapulous account” features, no one would see a thing in Nearby! I think what a better solution might be is to simply have all twitter information (avatars, user names, pretty names, etc) take priority over the Tapulous network information, should you choose to do so. We believe this is an ideal solution but one that takes time unfortunately. Consider now we’ve heard everyone’s complaints, and we will address them in due time.

What do you do with my messages after you send them? Are they on your servers too?

The answer is yes, they are. In order to host nearby messages, and for features like our automatic tweet queuing while Twitter is down, we need to store your messages on our server too. The caveat to this is we need to support Twitter’s privacy exemptions, which we do not yet. This is a known and unfortunately overlooked issue.

What about feature X, Y, Z?

We’ve taken a look at the most requested features, and we’ve already planned on implementing of few of them. Built in web browser. This one’s a highly requested, and particularly useful feature on a mobile app where bouncing between two applications is a painful process. Clickable @replies. This feature was actually in the client for awhile, but just didn’t make the cut due to time so we had to take it out. The notification sounds are too jarring/loud. This was a large complaint, which we’ll remedy.

Not all of this may make it into the next release, but this is just a few of the things we’re working on.

Click here to download Twinkle via the App Store.

Wow, I am excited about this app! I’ve been waiting for ever. Twinkle is a Twitter client for the iPhone and you’ll notice under the settings they’ve left it open to add more services. It’s a beautiful app and laid out perfectly. You can also invite others to use Twinkle right through the app. The kewl thing is it’s not limited to just Twitter (friendfeed maybe?). You can also take a picture and send it along with your message. It gives you a link in the message so anyone can see it even if they’re not using Twinkle.

Another very very sweet feature of Twinkle is the Nearby feature. You can see other users on Twinkle within whatever mile range you set. This will need updated to include Kilometers for metric users but it’s an amazing feature that lets you see and talk to people around you. This will continue to help define the meaning of social networking.

You’ll notice in the settings tab under identity your image and username may not match your Twitter info. This is ok. This is your Tapulous Profile. If there is info there, it’s coming from Tap Tap Revenge if you’ve installed it before. You can read more about how Tapulous Profiles work by tapping help under the identity settings.

Now for some things I don’t like. First, the sounds. I was loving the birdy sounds from Twitterrific and I love the sounds from twhirl for the desktop. I’m just not feeling the sounds. Hopefully jailbreaking will let me in to change this in the future!

This Twinkle/Tapulous login/user id is quite confusing. And I’m not alone. I’m getting tweets from all kinds of people trying to figure this out. Think of it this way, Twinkle is a messaging client in it’s self, without Twitter. You can message others within Twinkle that have Twinkle. Looks like it’s just a direct message. Now throw in your Twitter profile and now you’re @replying, direct messing and who knows what! Very confusing. To make it worse, someone got my usual screen name under Tapulous when Tap Tap Revenge came out, so now in Twinkle I have a different username than Twitter. I don’t like this. Let us know in the comments how you feel about this so we can let the developers know.

On top of all that, when I first installed this app it was crashing on me when I would scroll down the list on the home tab. I would get about 3/4ths the way down and a couple user’s icons wouldn’t display and then it would close. I tried restarting the app and restarting my iPhone about 5 times. I was also getting “No Service” on my iPhone. Also uninstalling and reinstalling the app did not help.

Here’s a recent Tweet from the developer: “We’ve noticed a few bugs (in particular with @replies and with posting images). We’re working on them now!”

While writing this article Twitter went down and I noticed this nice little yellow triangle where the refresh button is. Now you’ll know when Twitter is not responding.

Overall I think I will love this app but they gotta change the Twinkle/Twitter username combo and fix the crashes before I’m committed. You can download Twinkle HERE in the App Store.

Click HERE to download Twinkle via the App Store.

Click here to download Twinkle via the App Store.

I am soooooo excited about this!!! You can now get Twinkle via the App Store. It does not actually show up in the App Store yet but, you can get it by clicking here
. When you click on that link, it will open Twinkle’s page in the App Store. So…go get it! We are installing it now and will do a full review after we have tested it.

The “Near Me” section also seems to show 25 tweets now instead of just 20.

Some features I’d still like to see are when the iPhone is unlocked for it to continue to run in the background and give me a badge number of new tweets. Also, the ability to choose from camera roll when adding a pic and search ability. Still the best and I use it all day long!