Twittelator Pro Forum Review by llofte. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Twittelator Pro is a twitter client with support for multiple accounts. It is beautifully designed and feature packed to make your mobile twitter experience quick and enjoyable. It would take a book to review each and every feature of Twittelator Pro, so I will pick what I consider the highlights and direct you to Twittelator's full feature list for more.

General Interface

Twittelator Pro has 3 different themes to chose from: Gradient, Dove, and Raven. Here are some screenshots demonstrating all three.

Big Stone Phone claims that each theme is ideal for different lighting conditions: Gradient for indoors, Dove for outdoors, and Raven for night.

The Tab Bar at the bottom has what you'd expect from any Twitter application: Friends, Mentions, Messages, Settings, and More. However, Twittelator distinguishes itself by making it customizable. When in the More tab, hit edit and you can now drag any item to any of the four locations next to "More".

Reading Tweets

I absolutely adore the experience of reading tweets with Twittelator Pro. The above photo (stolen from Twittelator's website) shows how much info is included with each tweet. Not shown in the picture, however, is that you can have both the username and real name of the tweeter displayed (as seen in my screenshots). This is great for people like me who want to see real names but are terrible at remembering usernames.

Tapping a user's avatar brings you to their profile. If there were any other users mentioned in the tweet, then you will be asked who's profile you want to view. The profile interface includes the typical info, including the option to follow or stop following. There is also a magnifying glass to quickly search for other screen names and what looks like a price tag to bookmark the user.

Tapping a username brings up a list of options for that tweet: reply, private, re-tweet, email tweet, copy tweet, favorite tweet, or copy link to tweet (more on copying later). You can save a tweet by tapping and holding for 2 seconds.

If there is a #hashtag or hyperlink included in a tweet, tapping the paperclip will take you to the the hash feed or website. When viewing a website, you can copy the link (again, more on this later). If there is a photo attached (with yFrog, Pikchur, TwitPic, MobyPicture, or twitgoo) there will be a thumbnail of it to the right. Tapping it will allow you to view it. When viewing an image, there is a little two-way arrow icon at the upper right which toggles between filling your screen vertically or horizontally. It's nice to be able to view photos in full screen even if the photo wasn't taken with an iPhone. Tapping on the photo will give an option to save it to your camera roll.

If there is a bubble around the time since the tweet was tweeted, then this indicates a conversation. Tapping the bubble will allow you to read the chain of replies. If there is not a bubble, then tapping the time opens a new @ reply to the tweeter.

Writing Tweets

Writing a tweet is an experience of its own with Twittelator Pro. There are many options, characters, and features that make writing tweets fast, easy, and fun. Twittelator does support landscape keyboard (and can be disabled from settings).

If you had previously copied a link or tweet, you can paste it into your tweet by tapping the bottle of glue. Even if you've exited the application, Twittelator Pro will remember what you have copied. To add a photo, tap the camera. Tapping the drop pin will add link to Google maps of your current location. Unfortunately, opening such a link will not launch the native Google maps application on the iPhone.

Underneath the current character count, you can tap on the icons to bring up 8 pages of characters. The characters are viewable with other twitter clients as well as on the web. Very cool.

At the upper right of the New Tweet screen, there is a button called "@friends". Here you find a scrolling list of who you are following. Scroll to who you want to @mention, tap +, and Twittelator adds them to your tweet. I think this is a great feature, but feel as though it can be better. I only follow 93 people, and it can take awhile to scroll through the list. I can't imagine if I was following 300+ users. I think something like Contacts with the alphabet on the side would be better. Ideally, I'd like to see an autofill feature.

Inside the tweet bubble, there is a # on the bottom right and two arrows facing each other on the bottom left. Tapping # will provide a scrolling list of all the #hashtags you have used before. Tapping the arrows will shrink your tweet (including URLS) with common abbreviations. This is nice for those situations when your tweet is 10 characters or so over the limit.

One of the coolest things I found about Twittelator Pro is the ability to tweet from Safari. First you must go into Twittelator's settings and tap "Add Safari Bookmarklet". This leads you to a website with the instructions for setting up this feature. It's very simple - just save the page as a bookmark, then edit it by deleting the beginning of the URL. Once set up, just open the bookmark with Safari and it will launch Twittelator Pro with the URL of the website you were viewing added to a new tweet. Awesome!

Pressing Send does not immediately send your tweet. You are given the option to send, or save as draft. I do not like this, but luckily there is an option to disable it! If disabled, you must hit cancel to get the option to save the tweet. Twittelator Pro allows you to save as many drafts as you want. This is awesome for those times you don't have reception, want to log a quick thought, or for iPod Touch users. If you have any saved drafts, you will see "tap for drafts" under "New Tweet", so tapping here gives access to your drafts.

There is much more you can do with Twittelator Pro. Some of the highlights are:

create subgroups
view tweets of users you have bookmarked
access saved tweets
see just your tweets
delete your tweets/messages
play mp3 and video within Twittelator Pro
search nearby tweets
switch between accounts while creating a new tweet

Conclusion

Twittelator Pro is the best iPhone twitter client I have used. It is clear that the the developers put a lot of thought and effort into this app with its nice interface and many features. At $4.99, Twittelator Pro isn't the cheapest client available, but it is worth every penny.

Pros

Multiple accounts
Auto-refresh
Full-featured
View conversations
Link a page from Safari directly as a tweet (via bookmarklet)
Copy/paste tweets and links

Cons

GPS links do not launch Google maps

TiPb Review Rating

Twittelator Pro is available for $4.99 from the iTunes App Store (opens in new tab).

Former app and photography editor at iMore, Leanna has since moved on to other endeavors. Mother, wife, mathamagician, even though she no longer writes for iMore you can still follow her on Twitter @llofte.

18 Comments

Wait a minute ... What am I confused about? Oh, bother. This is all so confusing.
You can also like from Safari like that using Twitterfon and Twitterrific. No big deal
I meant link from Safari
Good review.
I'm sure TP is awesome but I'm satisfied with Tweetie. I just need something that is quick, simple and idiot-proof; I don't need tons of Twitter features. YMMV.
Amazed by how many different Twitter clientss there are in the App Store,
B.
I have a question for you guys. How is Twitter better than Facebook? To me it just seems like a mini, compact Facebook with far less functionality. In otherwords, if I'm already on Facebook, why would I even NEED Twitter?
Another thing... also, all the apps I see for twitter have a premium version that you have to PAY for? Why, when Twitter is just a stripped down version of Facebook? The Facebook app is free, PERIOD with no premium or pay-to-own version. Why would I want to PAY to use Twitter?
@Big Willie,
I have both FB and Twitter. Just speaking for myself, I wouldn't say Twitter is better than FB (FB is still the most popular social networking site in the world but Twitter is growing FAST) but it is different. You kind of summed it up in your words. FB is the more fleshed out, fully featured social networking site where you can post pics, albums, videos, take stupid quizzes, etc. Twitter is more about the "real-time" communication/tweets. Yes, you could conceivably update your FB status 4 or 5 times a day, but most FB users don't use it for that purpose. Twitter is more about posting thoughts, news events, tips, following interesting people/celebs, meeting new posters, communicating in real time, etc in the moment. FB is (at least for me) more about keeping in touch with the people you actually know in real-life (friends, lovers, co-workers, long-lost buds, family, etc.). So the 2 are DIFFERENT and it's not a really a good comparison (as say, FB vs. Myspace). I love 'em both and use 'em daily. I probably still use FB slightly more (since more people are still on FB vs. twitter) but like I said, Twitter's userbase is growing exponentially--to the point that they've surpassed Myspace as the second leading social-networking site. As a little tidbit, there's a few cool FB apps (like "Selective Twitter Status") that allow you to sync your FB and Twitter status/tweets -- so you wouldn't have to update twice.
One other thing I've observed in my short time using Twitter (~a few months): Twitter seems to work best if you have a mobile phone that you can Tweet from in real time (Blackberry, iPhone, etc.). Otherwise, if your only access to Twitter is via desk/laptop, it doesn't seem as "fun," "spontaneous," or "in the moment.". IMHO, FB = works great from either desktop or mobile version. Twitter = works fine from desktop version, but funner to use on the go via mobile access (kinda boring to tweet 3 times daily sitting at the keyboard. :))
Again, that's just been MY Twitter and FB experience. Undoubtedly, YMMV.
Twitter and facebook have really nothing in common. The best way to describe Twitter is as a mini blog. Many people will update stuff on Twitter that they wouldn't put on their fb page. More spontaneous stuff. I love Twitter and think it's really fun. The best way for anyone to understand Twitter is to just get an account and check it out.
@Tunnelrunner - I had been going back and forth between Twittelator Pro and Tweetie to figure out which one I like best. I was thinking it was a comaprison of speed vs. features. TP runs just as quickly for me as Tweetie but it's UI make TP actually faster than Tweetie.
For instance, first, on start up with TP you see number badges for your friends, @mentions, and DM without having to open them. With Tweetie you have to open each to see what's new (wasted time to open if nothing new). Secondly, from the tweet dialog screens in TP, if you touch the paper clip or photo thumbnail you immeadiately open the attachment, (unless multiple links then you select the one you wanted). With Tweetie you touch the tweet and it opens, then you have to select the link or photo you wanted. So you have to move through a few more screens. Thirdly, TP auto-refreshes which is nice, then you don't have to keep refreshing each item.
I think Tweetie is a great app and might look back into it when the update with some added features but TP is just a faster experience for me right now.
I agree with you on Twitter, definately not as fun on the desktop.
@JNHohol
I broke down and bought TP. :)
Very cool. The auto-fresh mechanism alone makes this a winner. And yeah, the badges are very nice touches. Visually, I find it easier to see/read than Tweetie (not as "scrunched in"). Thanks.
The only thing stopping me from buying TP is that I have no clue how it handles multiple accounts; if it does it like Twitterrific (separate timeline for each account), then...I already have Twitterrific, so no need to get TP :)
But if it manages multiple accounts the way Nambu does on the Mac or the way Statuzer does it (that is, single timeline with all accounts mixed in, automatic selection of correct account when @responding), then I'll buy TP in a second.
Anybody know which it is?
@Tunnelrunner-Glad you like TP, I tried (4) different Twitted Apps and kept coming back because of the Auto-Refresh & badges.
@Vox-I can't see a way to get different accounts on the same timeline. The only thing I think it can do is select which account to Tweet from regardless of which account your in.
Thanks, JNHohol...I guess that means I'm staying with Twitterrific :)
Everyone should Twitter about cows being sent to antarctica AND utilize the youtube capabilities on their Iphone to watch the video about cows being sent to antarctica http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHhWmC3x4Is
does twittelator pro work with the the unlocked 2.2.1os...or is it only for the 3.0os?
You should check out TvvitterBug Version 1.0 available on the App Store. It’s simple, powerful, flexible, fast, and fun! Just released today.
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