Tweetbot 3 For iPhone Gets Complete iOS 7 Redesign (But You'll Have To Pay)

Tweetbot 3 for iPhone has been released, one of the most popular Twitter clients for Apple's platform, updated for iOS 7 and the shift away from skeuomorphic design. The new app keeps the features of the old Tweetbot, but matches the aesthetic of Apple's latest iOS release, complete with minimalistic new iconography and new animations. However, users of Tweetbot 2 will find they have to pay full price for the new version, as no free upgrade is provided.

Tweetbot developers Tapbots aren't the first company to decide to charge for the iOS 7 version of their app, but the controversy over whether it's the right course of action is unlikely to diminish. On the one hand, it's clear that a huge amount of effort has gone into reworking Tweetbot – Tabots describes it as "redesigned from the ground up" – most likely more than would usually be involved in an app update.

On the other hand, the functionality is much the same, and it's not clear what degree of support Tweetbot 2 users will get moving forward. The old app is no longer offered through the App Store.

Tweetbot found favor for its combination of power-features like easy muting, synchronization of Direct Message read status and timeline position across platforms, and customization of tabs for commonly-checked keywords, lists, and hashtags. It also has a popular media timeline mode, which pulls out images from tweets and shows them in a simple gallery.

Tweetbot 3 for iOS is available now, priced at $2.99, from the App Store. The company has said that this is a special launch price, however, and the app will eventually rise to $4.99.