A decade over since its introduction, Twitter has rebranded itself as an app capable of shaping history itself as much as it can disrupt democracy, politics, and the course of discussions. And in between the close familiarity of sharing texts, photos, and videos, we are still looking for the best Twitter apps to use to break the mundane of it all.
This is where Twitter clients come in. In this article, we will be looking into 15 of the best Twitter apps that can substitute the official Twitter app to give you just the spice you need to enjoy microblogging more. Fair note, some of these apps would require a one-time full purchase to enjoy their perks.
Which Twitter Apps Should You Use?
We all have our own reasons as to why we use Twitter — some for socializing, others for business and advertising, and a fair few for news dissemination. It goes without saying, the official Twitter app is still the best one to use, but it is not the only option out there. Whatever your reasons are, there is a range of Twitter clients or alternative apps to use that will suit your needs for using the platform.
Below are the 15 notable Twitter apps you should try for your iOS and Android devices.
1. UberSocial
Price: Free / $4.99
UberSocial has been developed by Ubermedia, Inc., the same developers of Plume for Twitter. This Twitter client has a deep Facebook integration enabling a user to send a tweet and have that tweet posted on Facebook. UberSocial has the same capacities as other third-party Twitter apps, including logging in multiple accounts, muting accounts, live viewing, conversation views, etc. If you are one of those people big on customizing their apps, this one is for you. UberSocial allows users to change user themes making it a fun app to try.
It’s free to download and comes along with the usual features of a Twitter app. UberSocial Pro, on the other hand, comes with the feature of an ad blocker app that eliminates the unnecessary ads that would pop up every now and then. However, the key feature of the Pro version is its Next Generation Interface, which integrates a movable, hide-able menu called UberBar.
Download UberSocial for Android
2. Hootsuite
Price: Free / $19.99+ per month
Among the Twitter apps on the App Store and Play Store, Hootsuite is one of the original Twitter clients that allowed tracking multiple social networks at once. It is essentially a social media management tool that allows users to check their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media in one hub.
The subscription version of the app is recommended for those running a business to help them track their social presence. But for anyone who just wants to have a single view of everything for socializing, the free version is for you.
The notable feature of this app is giving the user the ability to schedule sending a tweet within the day. At the end of the day, we do not want to get barred from sending tweets.
Download Hootsuite for Android
3. Echofon
Price: Free / $4.99
Echofon is another Ubermedia, Inc. product. At first glance, Echofon might just be similar to other Twitter apps out there that allow you to customize your theme. But there is more to this app that makes it still popular.
Among the many features of this Twitter client is its link shortener companion known as Bitly. This is convenient especially if you are one of those people who use Twitter to monitor your online presence as Echofon stores all links into your Bit.ly account to study at a later time. And if you still can’t move on from the early user interface of Twitter (especially after all those updates that shied away from giving us an edit button), Echofon allows users to retweet the old fashion way that shows the “RT” that we know and love.
4. Albatross for Twitter
Price: Free / $1.99
Among the newer third-party Twitter apps available for download, Albatross stands out for offering an ad-free environment to users. This app hits the brief in terms of offering the proper features of Twitter and including some decluttering features. That is to say, users receive a sorted notification type, view tweets chronologically, and get more supported file formats that Twitter is known to support. Lastly, Albatross also allows scheduled tweets following several updates that fixed the rough initial release of the app.
Download Albatross for Twitter for iOS
Download Albatross for Twitter for Android
5. TweetCaster for Twitter
Price: Free / $4.99
TweetCaster offers users the ability to mute unnecessary hashtags, tweets, and accounts. On top of this, one can also compose multiple tweets in one sitting and have them posted at a specified time. TweetCaster also provides insights and statistics of your Twitter activities such as who got to interact with you the most.
Comparing it with the official Twitter app, TweetCaster lags in terms of providing a blanket of security. That is to say, the app does not offer two-factor authentication or login verification. Nonetheless, with a feature that allows you to customize your theme, this is one of the Twitter apps to try for.
Download TweetCaster for Android
6. Crowdfire: Social Media Manager
Price: Free / $9.99 per month
Social media has become a tool for hybrid socializing online. Twitter, specifically, is being used by social media managers to track conversations online. The job can be done effectively with the help of third-party Twitter apps like Crowdfire.
Brand ambassadors, content creators, and influencers have found this app powerful (at least the paid version) because its algorithm automatically suggests photos, videos, and articles that their followers are interested in. The app also helps them track their engagements, provide insights, and organize content postings.
Download Crowdfire for Android
7. Tweetings for Twitter
Price: $1.99
What sets Tweetings apart from other Twitter apps like Plume or UberSocial free versions is its ad-free environment. This feature gives users the experience anyone would have when using the official Twitter app but with the ability to customize the app’s user interface using its beautifully customizable in-app themes.
Now, we all know that we are all allowed 280 characters per tweet, but Tweetings allows more than 280 characters as the app supports Twitlonger, a feature that will enable anyone to tweet longer than the allowed characters by Twitter.
Download Tweetings for Android
8. Plume for Twitter
Price: Free / $4.99
Plume is easily the best Twitter apps for Android Phones — even better than the official Twitter app. By sheer comparison, Plume is no different from UberSocial. You can customize the color of the theme of your liking, mute unwanted accounts without unfollowing them, and mute hashtags and applications. But what distinguishes Plume from others is its built-in web browser that allows users to view links without leaving the app. The app can also live-stream updates as they happen to save battery consumption.
The only downside this app has it is not available for iOS devices. But with the number of options one can have for their iPhones or iPads, Plume is still a good catch to try for Android users.
9. Tweetbot 5 for Twitter
Price: $4.99
If Plume is only available for Android devices, iOS users have also got something exclusively available to them.
There is nothing much to say about Tweetbot but it is a good replacement for the official Twitter app. So good that it got an almost five-star rating on the App Store. The app has a search feature that allows you to key in a term and either choose whether you want to view results of tweets containing that term or view the account whose name is the same as the search term.
This app does not come for free on the App Store but still worth the money at just $4.99.
10. Friendly for Twitter
Price: Free / $1.99 to $9.99
Other than being customizable and user-friendly, Friendly is built as an extension of the Twitter website and consumes less battery compared to other alternative Twitter apps. In addition, Friendly has recently updated its features allowing you to now download photos, videos, and GIFs directly to your device.
The app’s free version has the common tools you would need when socializing around, but the premium version contains more tools you might need when managing the social presence of a business or high-profile individual.
11. Periscope – Live Video Streaming
Price: Free / $0.99 to $49.99
You must be wondering what this app is doing here. While Periscope is, technically, not a Twitter client, it makes it to our list still. Twitter is not limited to tweeting text messages or photos. Twitter has been used as a tool to broadcast live events as it happens — a feature widely used by media companies during press conferences. Facebook did not have its Facebook Live feature until 2016; Twitter acquired Periscope in 2015.
Periscope has been a Twitter companion for those using Twitter to tell broader stories that usually can’t be encapsulated within the 280-character limitation. Twitter users can easily interact within the platform by sharing their comments while the broadcast is ongoing and let the world know what they feel about the event.
Download Periscope for Android
12. Twitterrific: Tweet Your Way
Price: Free / $0.99 to $29.99
Want to feel old? Get this: Twitterrific is the original Twitter app for the iPhone and has been so before the introduction of the App Store in July 2008.
As you may have already noticed, all Twitter apps have the basic details as the official Twitter app does with a few exceptions and differences. Twitterrific allows you to muffle @user or hashtags to your liking. This feature is also now available on the official Twitter app but has long been available on Twitterrific. However, its terrific ability to sync posts to and from iPhone and your Mac, as well as being able to see a reply on a tweet even if you do not follow the account makes this app appealing to many users. Unfortunately, it is only available for iOS.
13. Owly for Twitter
Price: Free / $3.11
By the time you reach this part of the article, you might think that all these Twitter apps offer one thing in common — they are all customizable and they are all the same. Not Owly though.
Owly for Twitter is an app that allows users to have a different Twitter experience by only viewing selected accounts’ tweets on your reading list. Now, this feature might be familiar with the official Twitter app, but Owly took its feature one step further by introducing Tweet Digest. On its paid version, users would be able to generate an aggregated feed of tweets from a user’s list to read.
Apart from this, Owly would be able to do all features of Twitter in one go in a sleek UI and much better way.
14. Fenix for Twitter
Price: Free / $4.99
Fenix is one of the best Twitter apps to replace the official Twitter app. Users have commended its user interface and its internal browser that allows viewing a link without necessarily leaving the app’s premises. Contrary to the official Twitter app’s homepage, Fenix allows you to view your list straight from the homepage.
If you have been around Twitter longer, you’d know Twitter has disabled Instagram previews on tweets. Fenix retained this feature and has fixed the issue in its recent updates.
15. TweetDeck for Twitter
Price: Free
If you are looking for a Twitter alternative that allows you to have a one-pane view of your timeline, direct messages, notification tabs, and profile of other users, TweetDeck might just do the trick. This app’s user interface is quite similar to that of Crowdfire with the exception of users being provided with insights and data interpretations. Let’s just say TweetDeck is an extension of the Twitter website only it has multiple tabs allowing you to have one single swipe view of your Twitter experience.
The only downside of TweetDeck is it is only available for iOS. It is also available for Windows.
Final Tweet
Once in a while, we all do look for something new, something that will break the ordinary on our daily social media apps. The official Twitter app is fine in itself but it has issues that third-party Twitter apps try to address. Fixing those issues does make our tweeting experience more enjoyable and breaks the mundane and routine process of tweeting. After all, tweeting should be a fun experience.
