Twitter officially bans all third party apps like Tweetbot, Twitterrific

Twitter updated its developer agreement on Thursday officially banning all third party apps like Tweetbot, Twitterrific and Echofon, first spotted by Engadget.

‘’You will not or attempt to (and will not allow others to)…use or access the Licensed Materials to create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications’’, reads the updated agreement, which is effective as of January 19, 2023.

While the agreement consists of over 5,000 words, this is the only substantive change about the ban, Engadget notes.

The news comes exactly one week after users of many third-party apps reported having problems with logging in and viewing their Twitter feeds. Tweetbot and Twitterrific said at the time that they were aware of the problem but had no idea why it was happening. They added that the company didn’t contact them about the issue.

Twitter kept its silence until this Tuesday when it confirmed it was blocking the apps intentionally. ‘’Twitter is enforcing its long-standing API rules,’’ the company said in a tweet. ‘’That may result in some apps not working.’’

By updating its developer agreement, Twitter has now made it clear that these apps won’t be coming back. While the reason behind it remains unclear, it’s thought to be related to Twitter’s declining ad business. Earlier this week, The Information reported that Twitter lost more than 500 top advertisers since Elon Musk acquired the company in October.

‘’We are sorry to say that the app’s sudden and undignified demise is due to an unannounced and undocumented policy change by an increasingly capricious Twitter – a Twitter that we no longer recognize as trustworthy nor want to work with any longer,’’ Twitterrific said in a statement following Twitter’s update.

It added that both Twitterrific for iOS and macOS apps have been removed from the App Stores, and subscriptions will be automatically removed by Apple. However, the ex Twitter-client is asking users not to request a refund since it’ll further hurt its business.