iPhone Twidget for iOS - Twitter Widget

[jsh8w]

Hello all;

Twidget for iOS - Twitter Widget

A few weeks ago, I was searching the App Store for a Twitter iOS 14 widget and to my amazement, there are hardly any apps that provide this functionality. So, I decided to build one myself.

The app, 'Twidget', got released to the App Store today! 🎉

It's completely free so I hope a few people find it useful! Attached below are a few screenshots and also the app description. Thanks for taking the time to look at the app. If you have any feature requests, feedback or questions; please don't hesitate to get in touch. 🙂

Twidget - Landing Page

Check it out on the App Store

View your live Twitter timeline right on your home screen with Twidget! Simply login to your Twitter account, and Twidget will do the rest!

Twidget provides 3 different widget sizes; each providing different tweet data. Each widget can also be customised using Twidget's 3 themes; light, dark and blue.

Each widget will automatically refresh with new tweets. Simply tapping a particular tweet will open it directly in Twitter.

MAIN FEATURES:
- Live Twitter timeline on your iPhone home screen.
- 3 widget sizes.
- Customisable Themes; light, dark and blue.
- Auto-refreshing timeline.
- Integrated with Twitter's official API.
- Tap tweets to explore.

 

[jsh8w]

I put together a quick landing page and also a change log for anyone who wants a bit more info about Twidget.

Twidget - Twitter Widget for iOS

 

[jsh8w]

v1.0.1 was released to the App Store today with a few minor bug fixes.

I've also uploaded some more screenshots to the original post. 👍

Twidget - Twitter Widget for iOS

 

[bransoj]

I've had a go with it using the medium size widget, not sure about the text size. Seems a bit big and i'd prefer to have smaller text and more tweets showing really. Not sure if this is possible or something that can be configurable.

 

[jsh8w]

I've had a go with it using the medium size widget, not sure about the text size. Seems a bit big and i'd prefer to have smaller text and more tweets showing really. Not sure if this is possible or something that can be configurable.

@bransoj Thanks for feedback.

That's certainly something I can look into. Configuring the font size shouldn't be an issue, I will just implement it in the same manner as the theme being configurable. Configuring the number of visible tweets is a bit more complex but I should be okay.

I'll keep you updated. Thanks!

 

[bransoj]

@bransoj Thanks for feedback.

That's certainly something I can look into. Configuring the font size shouldn't be an issue, I will just implement it in the same manner as the theme being configurable. Configuring the number of visible tweets is a bit more complex but I should be okay.

I'll keep you updated. Thanks!

Thanks, will wait to see what happens.

 

[dumastudetto]

This is fantastic work. I really love it. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing with us.

 

[jsh8w]

This is fantastic work. I really love it. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks for the great feedback. 👍

If you have any feature requests then please get in touch.

 

[jsh8w]

v1.0.2 of Twidget was released to the App Store today. 🎉

New features in this version:

• Highlighted hashtags, handles and urls in tweets.
• Dynamic tweet font size. (Small, Medium and Large).
• Minor bug fixes.

I've had a go with it using the medium size widget, not sure about the text size. Seems a bit big and i'd prefer to have smaller text and more tweets showing really. Not sure if this is possible or something that can be configurable.

@bransoj I've implemented customisable font sizes. Currently you are able to select between 3 sizes (small, medium and large.) Let me know what you think.

 

[bransoj]

v1.0.2 of Twidget was released to the App Store today. 🎉

New features in this version:

• Highlighted hashtags, handles and urls in tweets.
• Dynamic tweet font size. (Small, Medium and Large).
• Minor bug fixes.

@bransoj I've implemented customisable font sizes. Currently you are able to select between 3 sizes (small, medium and large.) Let me know what you think.

Hi

Yep saw the update earlier. Just added the widget back in and logged in but all i see is a white square with a grey bar in the middle of it. Doesnt appear to want to load tweets.

 

[jsh8w]

Hi

Yep saw the update earlier. Just added the widget back in and logged in but all i see is a white square with a grey bar in the middle of it. Doesnt appear to want to load tweets.

Hmm 🤔, sorry to hear you're having problems. I will look into that ASAP.

I think it may be an issue related to Twitter rate limiting.

To get to up and running for now; I suggest you delete the app and wait 30 mins or so before re-installing.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

 

[jsh8w]

Hi

Yep saw the update earlier. Just added the widget back in and logged in but all i see is a white square with a grey bar in the middle of it. Doesnt appear to want to load tweets.

Hi @bransoj.

I pushed a new version to the App Store and it went live this morning. It contains a fix for the issue you were seeing. It was basically only happening for specific tweets. I hope that resolves the issue for you.

Thanks.

 

[jsh8w]

v1.0.3 of Twidget went live to the App Store this morning. 🎉

New Features:
- Added functionality to view any specific user's tweets.
- Fixed crash when rendering different font styles.

Thanks for taking the time to look at Twidget. If you have any feature requests, feedback or questions; please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Twidget - Twitter Widget for iOS

 

[jsh8w]

Twidget v1.0.4 has been released to the App Store. 🙌🏻

New Features:
- Added functionality to open tweets in 3rd party Twitter apps. e.g Tweetbot.
- Set widget default theme based on system appearance (light/dark mode).
- Fixed bug where tweets were not opening correctly on large widget.

 

[jsh8w]

Hi everyone! 👋

Twidget has been entirely free so far. To support adding new features and maintaining the app; I've decided to go down the freemium route. v1.0.5 was released to the App Store today. 🎉

The free tier will still have the existing functionality although widgets will only refresh automatically every 30 minutes. It will also have banner ads in the app.

The premium tier will allow widgets to refresh every minute and also remove ads from the app. The premium tier can be accessed via either a monthly $0.99 subscription or lifetime $2.99 one-time purchase. New features I add will only be available through the premium tier.

Thanks for the continued support of Twidget. 😀

Download from the App Store

 

[jsh8w]

Twidget v1.0.6 was released to the App Store today! 🎉

New Features:
- Added functionality to show tweets for a particular hashtag.
- Added ability to show/hide retweets.
- Added dark mode into the app.

 

[IowaLynn]

Q: is it iPad “friendly” and can take advantage of different screen size?

I don’t use widgets on smaller iPhone X and are various widget option layouts part of free trial? I can see having a 7-day pro experience before buying to see.

 

[jsh8w]

Q: is it iPad “friendly” and can take advantage of different screen size?

I don’t use widgets on smaller iPhone X and are various widget option layouts part of free trial? I can see having a 7-day pro experience before buying to see.

Hi @IowaLynn.

Yes, Twidget supports all 3 of the widget sizes for both iPhone and iPad. 👍

Yes, the free trial enables all of the premium functionality.

 

[jsh8w]

Just a quick heads up that Twidget is on promotion for the next 48 hours! 🎉

The trial period has been lengthened from 7 days to 1 month.

 

[Sseguin]

Just downloaded the widget app. It doesn’t refresh at all. I’m using the larger widget. The tweets only update if I refresh the Twitter app itself.

 

[Sseguin]

Just downloaded the widget app. It doesn’t refresh at all. I’m using the larger widget. The tweets only update if I refresh the Twitter app itself.

Ok, it does update but it’s not every 30 seconds. How can we speed up the refresh rate? You miss so many tweets...

 

[bransoj]

Ok, it does update but it’s not every 30 seconds. How can we speed up the refresh rate? You miss so many tweets...

I think its an Apple thing with widgets more than the actual developer and what they can do with regard refreshing more often.

 

[jsh8w]

Ok, it does update but it’s not every 30 seconds. How can we speed up the refresh rate? You miss so many tweets...

Thanks for your support in downloading Twidget. 😊

The free tier of Twidget will throttle refreshes to not more often than every 30 minutes. The premium tier will try and refresh every minute.

However, as @bransoj correctly mentions; the OS has the ability to throttle widget updates if it feels a widget is using too much resource. So whilst the widget may request to update every minute, the OS may prevent this from happening. Unfortunately as developers, there is nothing we can do about this.

 

[Sseguin]

Thanks for your support in downloading Twidget. 😊

The free tier of Twidget will throttle refreshes to not more often than every 30 minutes. The premium tier will try and refresh every minute.

However, as @bransoj correctly mentions; the OS has the ability to throttle widget updates if it feels a widget is using too much resource. So whilst the widget may request to update every minute, the OS may prevent this from happening. Unfortunately as developers, there is nothing we can do about this.

Yup. That’s the issue I guess because I paid close attention and it doesn’t even update every 5 minutes. Rarely updates actually (approx 10 min).
Sorry iOS puts these limitations because with a live refresh this widget would have been solid!!

 

[pacorob]

Yup. That’s the issue I guess because I paid close attention and it doesn’t even update every 5 minutes. Rarely updates actually (approx 10 min).
Sorry iOS puts these limitations because with a live refresh this widget would have been solid!!

That is still one of the unfortunate things that the homescreen widgets in iOS14 are crippled as far as interactivity. The classic Today view widgets didn't have these type of limitations and use of buttons and such in a smaller sized widget as is currently is the case for the smallest size homescreen widget.