Tweetbot maker Tapbots has just posted an entry to their blog stating that an updated version for iOS 7 has been submitted to the App Store and should be available in the coming weeks. According to Tapbots, they think we'll be just as excited as they are about the update:
We were aiming for the iOS 7 launch date, but unfortunately we didn’t make it. We’ve been working night and day for the last 4 months to re-design and develop an app that took over a year to build. The good news is that we are extremely happy with the results and can’t wait to share it with everyone.
Tapbots goes on to explain some of where their thought process and planning is with some of their other apps such as Weightbot, Convertbot, and Calcbot so if you own any of those apps, make sure you hit the Tapbots blog to read more on what's going on with them too.
For all the Tweetbot fans out there, your wait shouldn't be long now.
Source: Tapbots
Reader comments
Tweetbot for iOS update on its way to your iPhone soon
Oh God, I hope they don't ruin the app like Echofon did ...
The sentence in the last paragrah which reads "We do not have a launch date yet because there are many other things that need to be in place and ready before we launch, but it will be soon." almost makes it seem like even after the app is approved they may not release it right away.
Maybe I'm just reading into it too much.
You're not reading into it too much, that's pretty much the gist of it. I am guessing it is related to marketing. Paul was looking for voice-over/narration services a couple of days ago, probably for a new video, they also need to update the website. Though I don't imagine those things taking incredibly long...but with them, you never know ;)
Will they be able to sell an entirely new version with the whole twitter token limit thing?
Sent from the iMore App
FINALLY!
Sent from the iMore App
Too many people crying...gezzzz..
At least we going to get an update that is Free. Remember we bought Tweetbot as it was at the time cause we liked it not for what it could have been or will be.
Yea I agree many of their apps are neglected but still I bought them at the time for what they were.
Maybe they should offer paid upgrades and employ more people rather than stumble on?
We all know what happens when an app is updated as a new paid version. Ratings plummet with backlash because people whine about a few bucks. Besides, we don't know if that is feasible for them from a business stand point among other important things that have to be considered when employing more people. I am sure they have have their reasons whatever they might be. Their communication could certainly improve but they have limited resources as is. I'm sorry the apps you use have become vapor ware (many of my favorites have over the years) but perhaps it's time to move on. Their focus is going to be on the projects that keep them running. I can't blame them for that.
Shut up and take my money!
Good bc I really want to stop using the official app.
Tweetbot is the best... Period.
Indeed. Pretty much what I took from the Blog post myself. Popular apps such as TB should have no problems whatsoever getting approved within 1-2 days at most, specially during this period of time that Apple wants to show all of the iOS 7 redesigns in their "Designed for iOS 7" featured category.
I have incredible respect for them, as Tweetbot (even with the old design) still is one -if not- the best twitter client available on iOS right now. Mark did an incredible job with the TB2 design, and Paul's code just works wonders...almost no bugs, silk as butter, and for mostly custom code in the app, that says a lot.
But that's the problem when you overreach. You can't maintain several apps with a 2 man operation, specially when you have wives and kids to deal with as well, as both of them do. Plus the way they handled the entire TB3 ordeal. Teases left and right in their twitter accounts, complete silence when it came to the update and snarky replies and comments to their customers, who had a month wondering what was going on. Very unprofessional in my opinion.
But like people said already, it is their business ultimately, and they decide how they want to run things. It's just sad to see incredible apps that just can't keep up with the market. Sure, a lot of people will come back once TB3 is released, but on the other hand, a lot of them won't, just because of the way they handled the whole deal, and that's a loss of customers their pockets will have to deal with.
Also, Mrs. Allyson Kazmucha, you should remove the "Coming to ipad" part in the title of this article, since according to Mark Jardine's twitter account, the designer of tapbots, they haven't even touched the iPad version of the app, as seen in one of his replies around 21 hours ago.
;)
The average review time for iOS apps is 7 days. Popular apps don't get any special treatment:
http://reviewtimes.shinydevelopment.com
That's just plain untrue. Facebook can push an update through within matter of hours. When Pocket God was at its peak it could get updates through in a day, two max.
Developers can request expedited reviews, which means they may have their app reviewed in much shorter times. Each developer has a limited number of these and are renewed every year or month I'm not sure. Usually these are reserved for emergency patches like facebook seem to have used.
I find it really hard to believe that Apple wouldn't pay more attention to high profile apps, rather than obscure and first time submissions to their App Store. But since neither of us work for the company, or said department, I guess that becomes a moot point.
Either way, going by how vague their blog post was, and the indication that some things need to fall into place before they release the update, it really doesn't matter how long Apple takes to review the App, now does it?
About time! I was starting to believe they weren't updating. Now the question is...will it be a free upgrade for us previous owners or a brand new app? I hope not.
You can't afford another ~$5 for something you probably use for hours every day?
Hours?!!!! are you kidding. Try maybe 5 minutes a couple times a week. But i'm not paying for shit. I don't need an updated. I'm not on ios 7. There are plenty of free twitter clients. I bought tweetbot once. I'm happy with that. They can try and charge again. That's their choice. It's my choice to not pay. That's capitalism.
Nope I can't afford €5 for an app that is not universal and after buying the Mac app for €20 I think it's way too expensive for an app made by a 2 person company because being a 2 person company means support sucks! I wouldn't mind paying €5 if it meant they would hire people to help them out. After being a customer for a long while now I think I can spend my money more wisely.
I can't use any other twitter app, but something is a bit off with their statements.....from it taking "weeks" for Apple to approve the update to this quote from their blog.......
"We’ve just submitted Tweetbot for iPhone to the app store and are waiting for approval. We do not have a launch date yet because there are many other things that need to be in place and ready before we launch, but it will be soon."
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-so besides waiting for Apple to approve the app/update, they still have work to do on it????? Something isn't right......whether it's their choice of words or they really aren't close to launching. Guess we'll find out (not) soon enough.
It's interesting yet confusing that they submitted the app to Apple but insinuate that it takes weeks for approval. Does it really take that long for an update? Or are they pushing an entirely new paid app? I certainly don't mind buying again to support their work but the blog was kinda vague in my opinion.
No difference between new app and update. Average time is probably 5-10 days, but Apple can ask for changes, reject the app, etc.
I'm sorry I call b*llsh*t. They decide to 'communicate' now when everyone is moving on. No screenshots and the suggestions it isn't just an App store approval they are waiting for. Vapourware?
They have done nothing to update weightbot for years, ignoring all requests, suggesting they had no plans to update. Basically as it stands it is abandonware - I'd be amazed if they have a business there anymore.
And, now not for iPad.
Strangely others manage to deliver good software on a timely basis. If you can't keep up you'll lose business, simple
I have deleted weightbot, moved to Echofon for Twitter and that suits my needs well.
I don't think it's vaporware. Marco Arment and David Sparks are both using the Tweetbot 3 beta, so it definitely exists. I understand why people are so frustrated with them, though. They never update their website, don't respond to people's requests for communication, and have seemingly abandoned several paid apps. I know that they're a two man operation, but there still has to be a better way of going about things.
I heard the David Sparks comment on the podcast as well and it wasn't clear whether he was talking about the patch version.
My frustration is their communication and how they handled Weightbot. I just don't think they deserve trust, they need to prove themselves again.
As the comment below also says, they are suggesting there is more than the App Store holding them up. They are either ready it they aren't this 'announcement' is pointless.
When will Weightbot get the iPhone 5 screen update ~2015
Ultimately it's their business…
"As the comment below also says, they are suggesting there is more than the App Store holding them up."
Its likely to do with their possible updating of the website and very old demo video and other marketing stuff. Tapbots has always taken their time to make quality stuff, and has always kept quiet regarding future releases. Its only due to the arrival of iOS7 that this has become more noticeable.
I'm on the Tweebot beta. I've been using the new version for a couple weeks. It's not vaporware at all. It's real. It works. And we should see it shortly after Apple approves it.
And weightbot? They are promising that in the blog post.
They have not promised that weightbot would be complete. After tweetbot I believe they will resume work on Calcbot which the blog mentioned they were working on before iOS7 was announced. They simply mentioned that all of their older apps would take some time to get updated because their UI is all custom designed for the smaller screens and can't simply stretch to fill the screen, both for technical and design reasons.
They say..
"We haven’t abandoned our older apps, but we have to make tough decisions that keep our business running. We already have many great ideas for the updates to our older apps and are just waiting for the right time to implement."
That is a general statement about all their older apps. Weightbot was last updated July 2010, you can't tell me they just haven't got to it, the right time just hasn't come, and will sometime in the future - it is abandonware.
And why Calcbot, I own it, but there are many better calculators in the app store.
basically what that quote said is they have been mostly focusing on Tweetbot for Mac, iOS and iPad since the new iPhone form factor has come out because those apps make them a lot more money (hence in the tough decisions that keeps their business running). They went on to say that months ago they just got started on updating one of their old apps: Calcbot, but now have to restart because of the radical change that is iOS7. However, instead of reworking Calcbot, they chose to focus on their flagship app which, again, makes them the most money, so they've been working non stop on Tweetbot 3 since iOS 7 was announced and just submitted the iPhone app very recently.
From this I think it would be safe to extrapolate that they would need to work on the Tweetbot for iPad next, then probably get back to Calcbot, and THEN work on their other apps like Weightbot etc.
At least thats what I understood from the blog post and what I've seen from the their tweets.
Rene, are you able to say if it looks like a "true" iOS 7 app? I would really hate to see a freaking stark white twitter screen with anemic looking text.
"Strangely others manage to deliver good software on a timely basis."
Who? What other two–person companies are pushing out iOS 7 updates for apps of this size?
I don't know how many people work for other software companies. But if you issue multiple apps you should ensure you have the ability to support them otherwise you end up with the problems they have - a damaged reputation at best.
Anyway, its more than iOS 7 the majority of their apps are abondonware - they don't maintain them - they keep selling them on the app store - they don't communicate. We are talking multi years between updates.
Look at the comments below Weightbot on the US appstore, previously happy customers begging them to put the apps out of their misery and withdraw them from the app store if they can't support them.
I agree. I used to be a tapbot fan as they were always faster than the official Twitter app to add new features and stuff but this iOS7 hiccup and the current state of the Mac version has changed my view on tapbots.
They should start hiring people or get their act back together.
FYI, not for iPad yet guys for those with their hopes up. Good software takes time.
Yup, iPhone only. Headline fixed!
If that image is from the actual app, I'm impressed. Not with tweetbot, because it is my favorite twitter client already, but with the fact that tapbots brought it to iOS 7 and didn't fuglify it.
Nope, its going to look pretty different. For instance that avatar is the new app icon.
I pray you are wrong. ios 7 is pretty as Nathan said Fugly and i hope they don't fugly up the app. But then again i got like 5 apps so far that i have backed up that i never update cause the new version either removes features or is ugly. And considering i'm pretty happy with almost all my apps i do ok not updating the few where the change is so drastic that it bugs me.
I'm not wrong, Tweetbot 3 is rebuilt to be an iOS7 app with some Tweetbot twist added to it, regardless it's going to fit into iOS7. so if you hate iOS 7 looking apps, you're not in luck. Considering the fact this may be a new paid app, you won't have to worry about an update.
I hope you are wrong on being a paid app. If it's a paid app they better make it a universal app. Not gonna pay twice again for the iOS version. I already paid enough for both the iOS versions and the Mac version and I can only say the price of the Mac app was way too expensive considering the lack off support. I'm already upset with how long it took to make Tweetbot an iOS7 app. Saying enough times Tapbots is a small company and how much work goes into the app is not really convincing when you can follow the developer on Twitter and notice he is more busy with trying to get hold of a new iPhone instead of working on the updates.
The excuse used for the Mac app price was if I can remember the amount of tokens Twitter will grant them. That excuse won't work anymore because if they screw up current tweetbot users those users can make sales really hard for tapbots by creating multiple bogus accounts and gathering tokens as a boycot.
The developers have already stated it won't be a universal app.
In that case they better start stating it's a free update
If you had the slightest understanding of how the app business works, you'll accept the fact that it is going to likely be a paid update, the first paid update since Tweetbot 1.0
Nobody is forcing you to use Tweetbot, there are many other alternatives, which in my opinion are not as great as tweetbot, but they are there none the less. Again, its worth pointing out that Tweetbot as it is, works perfectly fine. The only issue is that it looks outdated on iOS7, and that requires a lot of work to get right. If you're not interested in paying the $3 or however much it could be, then just don't buy it.
On the mac side, I would contact @toddthomas hes the lead dev on Tweetbot for Mac.
Also, I laughed at the comment regarding people "boycotting" tweetbot by creating more accounts and using up more of tweetbots tokens. I'd actually like to see that, would be hilariously sad.
I'm not using Tweetbot anymore because they didn't update to iOS7 and I don't miss it and I won't be upgrading if it is paid.
You can laugh all you want but does realmacsoftware ring a bell? They had a major backlash regarding Clear 2.
Nobody forcefully "boycotted" Clear 2, and their response was a clarification splitting the universal and the iPhone version. Backlash is always to be expected when you force customers to pay more than once, which Tapbots did with iPad and Mac version of their app, i'm sure they expect backlash. I do however think this is a little different from Clear 2, since Tweetbot 3 is apparently completely redesigned for iOS7, which people will find more valuable than the smaller changes Clear 2 seem to have.
Because they couldn't boycott it like we can do with Tweetbot. Nobody forced the users to give it bad reviews in the app store either but they did. If Tapbots expect a backlash they will be smart enough not to charge customers again. Their popularity has already faded because of bad support and being very late with their updates. As you might have noticed the era of paid apps is over. Developers will have to come to grip with the reality that a new era has begun. Just like the music industry had to adapt to a new era the app business will have to adapt as well.
Maybe you're right, paid apps are doing poorly which is why they will likely have to charge again, but I think we can expect them to make some business changes if Tweetbot 3 doesn't do very well. It will be sad, but its a reality.
YES! :)
Tweetbot FTW!
I for one can't wait for the new app. I have tried using other twitter apps and just can't get use to them
I like the current Tapbot stuff more than I like the new look of iOS 7. I hope they don't get too wild.