After discontinuing Twitter for Mac this week, Twitter (formally generally known as X) has now enabled help for working the unmodified iPad app on Apple Silicon Macs, a function that debuted with macOS Huge Sur. Though the app initially had an issue the place customers would get suspended for utilizing it, evidently the app is now secure to make use of.
Twitter for Mac (Catalyst)
Twitter for Mac initially debuted in 2019 alongside Apple’s new Catalyst framework in macOS Catalina. Though this wasn’t the primary model of Twitter for Mac, this model was distinctive as a result of Catalyst allowed Twitter’s engineers to make the most of a lot of the codebase from the iOS app, and there aren’t a ton of modifications required for macOS compatibility. Nonetheless, after Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, improvement on Twitter for Mac utterly stopped.
This meant that the app grew to become increasingly out of contact with the remainder of Twitter, each for higher and for worse. Annoyingly, it meant you’d must open the online app in case you needed to learn posts over 280 characters. On the plus aspect, it additionally meant that you simply weren’t compelled to make use of the brand new For You web page. Outdated Twitter for Mac additionally has no help for any type of verification, as all “legacy” checkmarks had been eliminated in April 2023, and the app by no means received help for Twitter Blue.
After practically two years of no updates, the app was lastly eliminated from the App Retailer this week, with a popup forcing individuals to get off the app. In actuality you may merely shut this popup and proceed utilizing the app if you want, however it’s now clear that the previous Catalyst app isn’t going to be supported anymore. Shortly after its elimination, the iPad app confirmed up on the Mac App Retailer.
iPad apps on Apple Silicon Macs
When Apple introduced the Mac transition to Apple Silicon at WWDC 2020, they introduced that Apple Silicon Macs would be capable of run any iPhone or iPad app, so long as the developer doesn’t decide out. Sadly, a lot of the massive builders opted out. There have been some workarounds to sideload iOS apps onto your Mac, however they didn’t constantly work.
In contrast to Catalyst, no modification is required to get your iPad app on the Mac App Retailer, since Apple Silicon Macs help all iOS frameworks. Though an ideal expertise isn’t assured instantly, it ought to typically be fairly steady. iPad apps on Apple Silicon Macs are a good way for smaller groups to natively help the Mac with no need to dedicate any vital period of time to it, which is probably going essential to the X engineering crew after a lot of layoffs occurred over the course of late 2022 and early 2023.
X for iPad (working on Mac)
The iPad app working in your Mac is just about what you’d count on. It’s a really iPad feeling expertise, annd in contrast to the online app, it doesn’t make the most of a ton of sources. It additionally correctly helps push notifications, which has by no means labored constantly for me on the internet app.
The previous Twitter for Mac app grew to become fairly buggy over time, primarily as a result of it wasn’t actively up to date and have become increasingly out of sync with backend server modifications. For instance, profile banners would not load, trying to find tweets would by no means yield any outcomes, and typically the app would straight up freeze on you.
With the brand new iPad app expertise, you’ll be capable of make the most of the previous 2 years of Twitter modifications, for higher and for worse. Options like bookmark search, X Articles, Creator Subscriptions, replies/reactions in DMs, and all the customization options of X Premium at the moment are out there natively in your Mac.
That being mentioned, the iPad app isn’t excellent. As identified by my colleague Zac, the brand new iPad app doesn’t help timeline streaming. With the previous Mac app, you possibly can hold your timeline pinned to the highest, and new tweets would simply present up as they had been made, with no need to actively work together with the app. Moreover, many interactions that you simply’d count on to be behind a proper click on are literally behind an extended press, which isn’t what you’d count on on a Mac. There’s additionally a bug the place typing into the search bar gained’t really present what you’re typing, though it’s potential that’s a macOS Sequoia bug.
Wrap Up
General, it’d be higher if there was a really optimized Mac app once more for X. Though, I’m glad that I not must cope with the poorly optimized net app that’d use 1-2gb of RAM per tab, even in Safari.
Additionally, the suspension difficulty is price mentioning. It’s fairly weird that this “bug” even occurred, however at the least the inaccurate suspensions had been mounted inside 24 hours. I don’t totally perceive how they launched this app with none of the workers logging into it first, however it’s what it’s.
Are you proud of this new X for iPad app on Apple Silicon Macs? Have been you personally impacted the suspension drawback? Tell us how you are feeling within the feedback.
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