Tweetbot For Mac Hits Limit On Twitter Tokens, Pulled From App Store

The desktop version of popular third-party Twitter client Tweetbot has disappeared from the Mac App Store, and the cause is believed to be because of the limit on API tokens that Twitter imposes on developers. In a nutshell, Twitter gives app developers a limited number of tokens, which allow users to sign in and use the social network through the chosen app. Without any more tokens, the app becomes useless to new buyers.

When a developer runs out of tokens, it's near impossible to get more, and they are left with little choice but to stop offering their app, regardless if it's free or sells for a price. This practice by Twitter is widely seen as a way for the company to reduce competition from its own official app, as well as simply force users to use the official app, where the experience can be controlled. It's similar to how there are no third-party apps for Facebook, and the only way to use that network on the desktop is to log in on the website via the browser.

Anyway, Tweetbot was noticed to have vanished from the Mac App Store yesterday, and a number of users noted that they could no longer create new logins. Tweetbot developers Tapbots previously told 9 to 5 Mac that they expected to reach their token limit near the end of 2014, making it unlikely that it's some kind of bug on Twitter's end.

As of now, Tweetbot is still available on the iOS App Store, where it is also widely-popular, and existing users of the Mac app should be able to continue using it without issue, as long they don't sign out of their Twitter account in the app, or revoke the app's access on the Twitter website. Unfortunately for Tapbots, it looks like they're the latest victim to Twitter's newly-walled app garden.

SOURCE 9 to 5 Mac