Snag Access To Endangered Twitter Apps Before API Restrictions Take Effect

Admit it: You haven't been paying too much attention to Twitter's pending API changes because you think they'll only affect developers, right? WRONG. The new Twitter regs will lock down applications, restricting access to a limited number of users. So if you don't snag access to these endangered apps now, you probably won't be able to later. As we mentioned, changes to Twitter's API are headed this way. And one thing users have glossed over till now is the user cap that Twitter has placed on developers, stating specifically that they "will need our permission if [their] application will require more than 100,000 individual user tokens." Does this mean your favorite popular apps will be shut down? No. Well . . . not yet: We will not be shutting down client applications that use those endpoints and are currently over those token limits. If your application already has more than 100,000 individual user tokens, you'll be able to maintain and add new users to your application until you reach 200% of your current user token count (as of today) — as long as you comply with our Rules of the Road. Once you reach 200% of your current user token count, you'll be able to maintain your application to serve your users, but you will not be able to add additional users without our permission. If that doesn't sound ominous, we don't know what does. So what happens to apps we love, like Tweetbot? Well, according to the Tapbots blog (the Tweetbot creator), it plans to soldier on and comply to the new rules. And it tells users not to panic - even though Tweetbot was specifically listed in Twitter's post (and not in the best way): That upper-right quadrant [the quadrant Twitter plans to limit and describes why here] also includes, of course, "traditional" Twitter clients like Tweetbot and Echofon. Nearly eighteen months ago, we gave developers guidance that they should not build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience." And to reiterate what I wrote in my last post, that guidance continues to apply today. Eek. But even if Tweetbot and other cool apps like it DO comply, that 100,000/200,000 user cap will have to matter at some point. And at the VERY least, that will mean restricted access. It would have to. So what are you waiting for? Time's a-wasting! Get those apps downloaded on your smartphones today! Do you have any cool apps to suggest to readers? Let us know in the comments. (Access denied image from Shutterstock)

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Snag Access To Endangered Twitter Apps Before API Restrictions Take Effect

Mary C. Long

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Mary C. Long