It also appears in those circumstances that closing the app from the multitasking tray and reloading solves the issue until the next refresh.

We’ve spent a lot of time trying to work out what the issue is as well as liasing with Twitter themselves as we can’t see what’s wrong.

However today we’ve had the news that there is a bug at Twitter’s end they are investigating

Since we last talked about this we’ve narrowed down the issue further… it’s still a cookie issue, but not necessarily due to cookies you yourself are sending. We’re working to resolve this – it’ll kind of randomly effect some users and not others until we have it resolved. If you want to temporarily mitigate, continue using v1′s statuses/home_timeline method for just a little longer.

Unfortunately as there’s only a few weeks left until the API 1.1 migration is complete, switching iPhone users back to API 1.0 (when it takes a week to get app updates through Apple’s approval) is not an option.

If you are experiencing this issue, some users are finding turning SSL in the settings to off fixes this problem. However please note you shouldn’t rely on this setting as the non-SSL versions of API 1.1 are only available in the short term and will be turned off eventually.

I’m sorry to those users that are experiencing issues but there isn’t much we can do at our end until the issue is resolved by Twitter.

We refer to them as the conversation view and the reply view

Conversation View

This takes the current tweet and if it was a reply to another tweet, it’ll load the tweet it was in reply to and any other tweet further down the chain.  This feature will remain unchanged in Tweetings for Android, iPhone, iPad, etc

Reply View

The reply view takes the current tweet and shows any replies made to that tweet after it was posted.  This is a feature on Tweetings for iPhone and iPad but not on Android. Why?

This uses a private API on Twitter called ‘related tweets’. However as you may be aware, Twitter is migrating all clients and apps to a new version of their API.

This feature IS NOT part of the new API. Basically the only people able to offer this feature with any sort of accuracy under API 1.1 are Twitter themselves.

This has been confirmed by Twitter themselves

Will the undocumented call related_results/show be added to the API 1.1 or will it be killed for third-party devs?

The undocumented/unsupported related_results/show method will not be making an appearance in API v1.1 at this time.

So unfortunately, now matter how many times we are requested to add this feature to Tweetings for Android or bad reviews are given because they want this feature…. we CANNOT add it.

As you can see from the discussion quote above, this has always been an unsupported and undocumented Twitter API so we’ve been very lucky and grateful to Twitter for the ability to use it up until now.

However there are numerous changes and in some cases features that have been removed by Twitter.  All applications that talk to the Twitter API have to perform this migration before 5 March 2013 or they’ll cease to work, so whilst unfortunately some of these feature changes will be unpopular, we have to do this work and perform it now.

Version 5.7.0 of Tweetings for iPhone will be the first version to be fully compatible with API 1.1 and below are the main changes that’ll affect features in the app:

1. Rate limits have dramatically changed. Rate limits are a way of Twitter limiting abuse of their system and you can only access certain resources a specific number of times in a given time period. See Twitter’s API 1.1 documentation and also our blog post on it
2. Weekly and daily trends APIs no longer exist and so they have been removed from Tweetings
3. Retweets to me and tweets you have retweeted APIs are not part of API 1.1
4. Some media providers do not yet support oAuth Echo over API 1.1 yet, they have temporarily been disabled in Tweetings until they do support it. oAuth Echo is the mechanism used to upload your pictures to their service and know who you are via our app.
5. Twitter’s media timeline that we used to show a user’s recent photos was never an officially supported API. This has been disabled in API 1.1 and is not currently available to third party clients. We have an alternative mechanism, so the feature is still there, it’s just won’t show as many photos as before unfortunately.
6. Auto refresh of the main timelines after a period of inactivity when switching tabs has been disabled by default, see rate limiting above. Refresh on resume from background and pull to refresh is still enabled.
7. Related tweets, otherwise known as replies to tweets was an unsupported API. Twitter have confirmed that this will not be part of API 1.1 and so with great sadness this feature has been removed. You can still view the conversation of a tweet for older tweets
8. Related users was also an unsupported API and has also been removed by Twitter in API 1.1 and therefore Tweetings

However the plus side the migration to API 1.1 have allowed us to fix a few long time bugs, such as the occasional blank user avatar on the compose screen. We’ve also fixed TwitVid video uploading too.

As you may be aware Twitter are transitioning all users from version 1.0 of their API to version 1.1. For most users this doesn’t mean anything nor will they be aware of this except in one specific change which may cause a lot of pain for both client developers and users alike…. Rate Limits.

What are Rate limits

Rate limits are quite simply the number of times you can access certain features on Twitter within a given time.

Rate limiting in version 1.0 of the Twitter API was quite simple, you had a bucket of 350 requests you could make in any given hour period and if you went over it, Twitter blocked you until that period had passed and all started working again. 350 was usually more than adequate for the majority of users.

However with version 1.1 of the Twitter API this has all changed. Rate limits in version 1.1 are now divided into 15 minute intervals. These rate limits are now divided into different types of request.

So for example, timeline requests will now only allow 15 calls in any 15 minute period.

How does this affect me?

With only the ability to refresh that timeline 15 times in 15 minutes you are much more likely to find yourself getting rate limit errors in any app using API 1.1.

For example lets say you use a client that does the following, allow timeline gap filling, refreshes your timeline after sending a tweet and also refreshes the timeline when you first open it.

Now let’s say you do the following.

1. Open the app (1 API call to refresh)
2. You’ve missed a few hours worth of tweets (1 API call per gap filling request for  a few hours you’ve probably filled 3 gaps)
3. Compose and send a tweet (1 API call refreshing the timeline after sending)

You can see that within the matter of less than a minute we’ve probably used up 5 API calls… we’ve now only got 14 minutes left and only the ability to call 10 more refreshes.

Each individual timeline should have it’s own 15 call rate limit so refreshes to home timeline shouldn’t affect your mentions timeline rate limit and vice versa.

Tweetings and the migration to API 1.1

Android: We have already implemented API 1.1 in Tweetings for Android and so you’ll see rate limiting errors if you go over your 15 minute limits

iPhone and iPad: We have tested API 1.1 in Tweetings for iOS but have not yet implemented it for a number of reasons. The longer history of the iOS version means we are using certain features that Twitter has decided not to port over to 1.1 so they will be removed from Tweetings. We are therefore holding off on that transition until it can no longer be avoided.

Mac: We have not yet implemented the 1.1 API but we will have to do so.

What can I do to get around the rate limit

Unfortunately very little. It is against Twitter’s Terms of Service to find ways around rate limiting.  However there are certain things you can do to prevent yourself getting rate limited in the first place.

1. Turn on Streaming over WiFi. Streaming over WiFi keeps a constant connection open to Twitter and therefore for the main timelines you do not need to manually refresh
2. Turn off refresh after sending a tweet, where available
3. Only refresh when you are expecting new tweets

There is a temporary solution in Tweetings for Android, which is already using API 1.1, and thats to go to Settings, Other and switch to using the 1.0 API for those features.

Unfortunately ALL apps will have to make the switch to API 1.1 by March 2013 or they will simply cease to work, so switching to API 1.0 in Tweetings for Android feature will only work until that time.

For more information about rate limits and how many calls you can make see Twitter’s web site

• REST API Rate Limiting in v1.1
• REST API v1.1 Limits per window by resource

We have submitted an urgent update request to Apple but you can fix this yourself if you are familiar with OS X Terminal.

On your Mac go to Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal

From Terminal type the following commands in bold EXACTLY

sqlite3 ~/Library/Caches/com.dwdesign.tweetingsmac/StatusCache.db

press <enter> key

ALTER TABLE StatusUpdates ADD COLUMN textOriginal text; ALTER TABLE DirectMessages ADD COLUMN textOriginal text;

press <enter> key. Don’t worry if you get an error for duplicate column here, it depends on which version you had of Tweetings previously or if you had a new install, etc

ALTER TABLE StatusUpdates ADD COLUMN media text; ALTER TABLE DirectMessages ADD COLUMN media text;

press <enter> key

.quit

press <enter> key

You’re done, load Tweetings as normal

Background

For sometime now Twitter has offered 3rd Party Clients two ways of authenticating your details against their system.

The first way is called xAuth which just requires you to enter your user name and password into the app and in return we do some magic in the background to exchange that for unique tokens which in turn logs you in, but the app doesn’t keep your password.

The second way is called OAuth. OAuth requires you to visit Twitter’s web site in a web browser, which shows you a list of permissions the app will have to your account and then you’ll be redirected back to your app.

Whilst xAuth is a much neater and elegant system we’ve never been happy with it as it still requires you entering your password to a client who you are simply trusting not to abuse it.

What’s Changing?

In Mid June, Twitter are going to now require apps that wish to have access to a user’s Direct Messages to firstly use the OAuth process only and secondly re-authenticate users.

How this affects Tweetings

With regards to requiring OAuth only, if you are using Tweetings for iPhone, iPad and Chrome then we don’t need to make any code changes at all as we already use OAuth authentication.

Tweetings for Mac does use xAuth and will require us to push an update to the Mac App Store before the mid-June deadline so that you can keep access to your Direct Messages.

The good news is that we are in final testing of migrating Tweetings for Mac from xAuth to OAuth and we should be good to go soon.

The second part of the changes is where you come in. Unfortunately because of the permission changes Twitter is making, they are requiring all apps that need Direct Message access to re-authenticate all users. We can’t do this ourselves.

This requires you to re-login all of your accounts between now and the mid-June deadline in order to keep your Direct Messages and Direct Message push notifications.

What happens if I don’t re-login?

From our understanding pretty much everything will work just fine EXCEPT you won’t be able to make use of Direct Messages until you do relogin.

How do I do this in Tweetings

Tweetings for iPhone and iPad

• If you have more than one account then this is pretty straight forward. Simply go to the accounts screen (by tapping your screen name at the top of the main timeline).
• Swipe to delete an account you aren’t currently logged into
• Tap ‘Add Account’ and re-log back into that same account
• Switch to that account and then do the same for the next account

If you only have one account you have two options

• You’ll either have to delete Tweetings and re-install it from the App Store. Don’t worry this is free because you’ve already purchased it before.
• You can alternatively create a temporary second account on Twitter so that you can delete your primary account without deleting the app.

Note: if you try to authenticate two accounts quickly after one another, when presented with the login page on Twitter’s website you may still be logged into the last account. Tap your icon at the top right of the screen and then logout.

Tweetings for Chrome

• Tap the logout X button at the top right of the popup window
• Then tap the Tweetings icon and re-login again

Tweetings for Mac

• Do not perform the delete/relogin process unless you have the forthcoming version 2.0.4 from the Mac App Store
• If you have 2.0.4 then go to the ‘Tweetings’ menu at the top left of the main menu bar
• Select ‘Accounts’
• Delete any accounts you wish to by selecting them and pressing the ‘-’ button
• Click the ‘+’ button and a window will open and authenticates you with Twitter over OAuth

tl;dr if you don’t re-log in to your accounts in Tweetings before mid-June you’ll loose access to Direct Messages and Direct Message push notifications

Update: Tweetings for Mac 2.0.4 is now available from the Mac App Store with oAuth authentication.

Update 2: Twitter’s cut off for moving to oAuth is now the end of June

This has previously been delivered by us regularly polling your accounts and notifying you of new mentions and direct messages. Because that polling is scheduled, we have lots of accounts to monitor and it all takes a lot of server resources, bandwidth and money we’ve always had a short delay on being able to deliver messages. Sometimes as short as 30 seconds, sometimes 5 mins or more (which is less than ideal).

Twitter offers a number of Streaming solutions, one of which is still a beta product, called Site Streams. So long as you have authorised Tweetings we can monitor your mentions and direct messages and send you a push notification the very instant they arrive!

This is a huge change to our service and one we hope you’ll love.

I’m not getting the push notifications?

If you are an existing user you’ll be migrated into the new system automatically the next time you download a new mention INSIDE Tweetings, that means you have to load Tweetings and check your mentions! Then once an hour we will know you’re registered for instant push and add you to the service.

If you are a new user, the first time you load Tweetings and download your tweets, you may have to wait up to an hour to get your first push notification. After that they will be instant.

However coming very soon to both Tweetings for iPhone and Tweetings HD for iPad, we are very pleased to announce the support of User Streams for BOTH these devices!

Pull down refresh is so 2010… 2011 is all about streams! This great feature will be available in Tweetings for iPhone v4.0 and Tweetings HD v3.0. Just connect to a WiFi network and the tweets start streaming. New tweets will show up instantly, no need to ever refresh again.

Your home timeline, mentions and direct messages will all automatically update so long as you are connected over WiFi. Don’t worry if you leave the house and/or your WiFi connection drops, we’ll simply disconnect from the stream automatically and you can carry on as usual so you don’t waste your cell data limits.

When?

Well both updates have already been submitted to Apple for approval, we’ve been testing it with a great team of beta testers who’ve been pulling it apart for the past few weeks and it should be with everyone else in a week or two!

How do I enable it?

By default Tweetings for iPhone and iPad will not have this enabled.  You can turn this on yourself in both apps by going to ‘Settings’ (in Tweetings for iPhone this is under the ‘More’ button at the bottom of the screen), then scroll to the second titled ‘Display’, then tap ‘Advanced’ and then turn on ‘Streaming over WiFi’.

You’ll then need to restart Tweetings, this means tapping the home button to go back to the Springboard, Double Tap the Home button to get to the multitasking tray, tap and hold the Tweetings icon until the icons shake, tap the red close icon.  Load Tweetings as normal.

What is Tweetings Sync?

Simply put, Tweetings Sync, when enabled automatically keeps unread tweets on your main timelines in sync between any platform or device you have Tweetings installed on.  From iPhone to iPad to Chrome to Mac, you never have to read the same tweet twice!

What Devices is Tweetings Sync Available On?

Tweetings Sync is available on the following platforms and versions

• iPhone version 3.6.3 and higher
• iPad version 2.6.4 and higher
• Mac version 1.1.0 and higher
• Google Chrome Extension version 1.6.0.5 and higher

How do I enable it?

Tweetings Sync is not automatically enabled. If you don’t need it or don’t use Tweetings on more than one platform or device, then there is also no need to enable it.

However if you do then you can enable it as follows

• iPhone – go to ‘Settings’ -> ‘Display’ -> ‘Advanced’ -> ‘Tweetings Sync’
• iPad – go to ‘Settings’ -> ‘Display’ -> ‘Advanced’ -> ‘Tweetings Sync’
• Mac – go to the main ‘Tweetings’ menu next to the Apple symbol at the top left -> ‘Preferences’ -> ‘Sync’
• Chrome – go to the ‘Options’ icon at the top right of the popup -> ‘Tweetings Sync’

How does it work… the detail

Whenever you refresh a timeline, or get new tweets, or send a tweet you may get new tweets downloaded.  We take the unique identifier of that first, top, tweet of your home, mentions and DM timelines and sync them back you the external Tweetings System.

When you load on another device or platform, we grab what that identifier was, mark everything below it as read and then scroll you to exactly that position.

Please note we take the top tweet in a given timeline, not where you may have scrolled to, so when you leave one client or platform and go to another we assume everything from the previous client was read.

In fact your question is better posed to Twitter themselves who set an abitary limit on the number of Tweets you can retrieve for certain timelines.

The limits as we understand them at the time of writing are as follows

• Home timeline (thats your main timeline of people you follow): last 800 tweets
• Mentions timeline: last 800 tweets
• An individual user’s timeline, that is tweets a user has made or retweeted themselves: last 3,200 tweets
• Search: last week’s worth of tweets

Don’t worry all your old tweets still exist inside Twitter’s database, they simply don’t let external clients access anything beyond that listed above.