4 iPhone Twitter Clients Battle it Out

There seems to be two must-haves for every techie these days: an iPhone/iPod touch and a Twitter account. Since this is a Mac blog, I’ll assume the iPhone and iPod touch need no introduction, but Twitter might.

Twitter is a web application that attempts to answer the question, “What are you doing?”. Basically, it’s the away message feature of IM protocols all by itself.

If that sounds like a good thing to you (and believe me, it is), I’ll wait here while you get a Twitter account. Back? Good. With that out of the way, and with your iPhone/iPod touch in hand, the last decision you face is which mobile Twitter client to use. Thankfully, I’ve done the “hard” work for you, and put 4 mobile Twitter clients (Twitter Mobile, PocketTweets, iTweet and Hahlo) through their paces. And here’s how they stack up…

1. We’ll draw first blood with Twitter Mobile.

What I Liked:

• The interface is basic, so it loads quickly via EDGE
• It’s the only client in the roundup that auto-refreshes after you post a tweet

What I Didn’t Like:

• A basic interface does not mean an attractive one. In fact, the interface is downright awful
• No icons or buddy pictures, just gobs of poorly laid-out text
• The layout is cramped and difficult to read
• No alternate timelines, just Home, Profile, and People You’re Following
• Can’t mark tweets as Favorites

Twitter Mobile may be the official client, but it needs a lot of work; you won’t catch me using it on my iPhone anytime soon.

2. The second lamb to the slaughter: PocketTweets

What I Liked:

• The interface is stunning
• It displays buddy icons, and text is small but readable
• Lots of timelines (Friends, Replies, Direct Messages, Archives, Public Timeline)

What I Didn’t Like:

• While text is mostly readable, I wish it were a bit bigger
• Navigation toolbar is at the bottom of the page, which isn’t immediately obvious
• Could be easier to refresh the timeline
• No auto-refresh when posting a tweet

PocketTweets is an excellent option for iPhone/iPod touch owners. It’s pretty, it’s usable, and my gripes with it are minor. There is a button that’ll take you directly to the toolbar at the bottom of the page, but I found myself wanting the toolbar hidden at the top of the page instead.

3. Our next victim: iTweet

What I Liked:

• Attractive-enough UI: the colors aren’t my taste, though
• Buddy icons and the biggest text of the bunch
• Plenty of timelines (Friends, Replies, Direct Messages, Favorites, Public Timeline)

What I Didn’t Like:

• Only shows “unread” tweets
• Refresh button at bottom of UI, and can be a pain to get to
• No auto-refresh when posting a tweet

iTweet is a fine choice, but isn’t my favorite of the bunch. More than anything else, I have a hard time understanding why it only shows you the unread tweets; this is Twitter, not an RSS client. I also don’t understand why you’d include a Refresh button, but stick it at the bottom of the page with no direct way to get to it. Come on, people, usability first.

4. The final sacrifice is: Hahlo 2.0

What I Liked:

• Excellent UI, and is quickly loaded due to its use of AJAX
• Buddy icons, and decently sized, high-contrast, readable text
• Only mobile client with ‘Send Direct Message’ button on individual tweets
• Most available timelines (Home, Personal timeline, Personal w/ Friends, Friends-only, Replies, Direct Messages, Favorites, Public Timeline)

What I Didn’t Like:

• Default landing page is a menu, not a timeline
• Could be easier to refresh timeline
• No auto-refresh when posting a tweet

Hahlo’s a tough one to beat. The interface is very up my alley: I find dark-text-on-light-background easier to read, and the text is a big enough to be readable. Also, the menu for Hahlo is exactly what I was hoping the PocketTweets toolbar would be.

Final Verdict
Steer clear of the official client unless it’s your only option; the other clients I reviewed offer far more. iTweet is a perfectly decent client, but it’s not the one I’ll be using. As far as I’m concerned, the clear winners are PocketTweets and Hahlo. Neither is without their (minor) flaws, but overall I think both offer a near-perfect tweet-on-the-go experience.

Try both and pick the one that better suits you; you can’t really go wrong with either. Which one do I use? Well, I was a PocketTweets guy in the past, but lately I find myself hanging with Hahlo. What can I say, I’m a sucker for white-and-black minimalism. Now that you’re armed with your iPhone/iPod touch and a suitable Twitter client, all that’s left for you to do is get out there and start tweeting!

May I recommend a tweet about a great MacApper article you just read? (Note: all screenshots were taken with iPhoney; iPhones do not have Aqua scrollbars)