Jul 23, 2009
Twitter iPhone apps are probably the most sought after at the moment especially after the advent of Push notifications introduced with iPhone OS 3.0.
SimplyTweet is an Twitter iPhone app that is available as a free version – SimplyTweet Lite and a full featured SimplyTweet ($4.99).
I am going to look at the full-featured version for those of you considering to purchase a Twitter iPhone app.
SimplyTweet Features
SimplyTweet is by far the most feature rich Twitter app I have seen to date.
Lets looks at some that you have to expect from a paid Twitter app and some that stand out in this app.You can find the full (and rather long) list at the iTunes page.
And then I’ll try to offer some screenshots and explain some features in detail. I’ll also offer some comparison with other Twitter apps with Push notifications like iTwitter, iTweetReply.
- Push notifications for Replies & DMs
- App badge shows number of messages waiting
- Multiple Accounts
- HootSuite integration – import accounts from HootSuite
- Browser replies in Conversation view
- Create Groups of friends – Saved Views
- Landscape mode support
- Posterous integration
- Instapaper support
- Trends support
- Proximity search
- Photo search & Multiple photo support through Twitpic, Yfrog, TwitrPix, img.ly
- Built-in photo viewer
- Swipe to reveal shortcuts
- Reply to multiple people at once
- Open Profile directly
- Access Twitter contacts list while replying and DMs
Push Notification
SimplyTweet does this very well. I was promptly notified on the arrival of Mentions & DMs via SimplyTweet. SimplyTweet wins this one hands down over iTwitter as iTwitter supports Push only from other iTwitter users.
Interface
The interface is pretty good but not too fancy as some other apps. But, it does support themes and you change it to a different skin from Settings -> SimplyTweet.
You can swipe on a tweet to get a few options. And you can tap on a picture to see a profile and you can choose to follow or unfollow right there plus also see their most recent timeline. And from here you can add this person to your saved view or add a note or send a public reply.
As you see the common functions are in the bottom panel and the More button packs the most features listed above.
Multiple Accounts
I like the fact it supports multiple Twitter accounts. Although while you are on friends timeline, mentions or messages tab, the only way to switch accounts is to go to More -> Accounts and change to a different account. TweetDeck handles this nicely by letting you swipe to a different panel. iTwitter is also a bit easier as you just back out to the screen where you choose the account you need.
I do give props for being able to change the account you are tweeting from or RT’ing by just tapping at the top bar and choosing the account you need.
Photo Search
Profile Page
Clicking on a picture takes you to a page like this where you can follow or unfollow a person. As you can see you can view a lot of details about the person and also displays the recent timeline.
Settings Page
You can get a rich set of options in the Settings page.
The first time I installed SimplyTweet, it seemed to load really slow. But there is a note on the iTunes apps page about this issue. Even though the app is set to just load the Friends timeline, it could be loading Mentions and DMs. And there is an easy fix – just go to SimplyTweet settings page and turn on auto load for mentiond & DMs and then turn it back off. And that did the trick! (thanks to @pinot on Twitter for the tip)
SimplyTweet is an excellent Twitter app and I can hardly think of any features that I find missing. The only thing I would suggest for the developer would be make it a little but more easier to switch between accounts while reading Friends timeline, Mentions or Direct Messages.
And this is officially the longest iPhone review I have had to write! 
Status: Recommended
Availability: App Store
Price: $4.99
Watch out for a SimplyTweet Promo Code giveaway shortly in another post. Stay tuned via RSS feed or TopiPhone on Twitter.
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