Twitter recently announced the API overhaul of its apps which once implemented will take away important features including push notifications and auto-refreshing timeline from third-party Twitter clients. However, after receiving a lot of backlash from public and developers alike, the company has announced that it is postponing the released of the Account Activity API which was scheduled to be released on June 19th of this year.
In a tweet sent out form its official TwitterDev account, Twitter informed developers that the Account Activity API is still in beta and the company is postponing its release.
Last year we announced our plan to retire Site Streams & User Streams, and replace them with the Account Activity API (currently in beta). We are delaying the scheduled June 19th deprecation date.
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) April 6, 2018
In a series of Tweets sent out after the original tweet, the micro-blogging platform informed devs that the company is committed to providing ample time to migrate and that it will provide at least 90 days notice of deprecation date from when the Account Activity API becomes generally available to all developers.
The company also sent out tweets informing developers who are using the current Site Streams and User Streams that they can review how to migrate to the Account Activity API and apply to join the beta access to Account Activity API.
Developers currently using Site Streams and User Streams can review how to migrate to the Account Activity API with our migration guide. https://t.co/Q5uDmysM0y
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) April 6, 2018
However, despite this small reprieve, developers are not happy with Twitter as their main concerns have still not been answered. In a website created by developers of Talon, Tweetbot, Tweetings, and Twitterrific which are the major third-party client of Twitters, the devs have given out a comprehensive account of the problems that they will face when the new API goes live.
As a reminder, developers who want beta access to the Account Activity API can still apply. https://t.co/um2NQDJXUe
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) April 6, 2018
You can read the full description by visiting the website, however, here is the TLDR version. The main problem that the developers will be facing is to do to with push notifications. The devs wrote that even with access to the API, they would be able to implement some push notifications, but they would be limited at the standard level to 35 Twitter accounts, which is insignificant when you consider the hundreds of thousands of users that these apps serve.
Still, the extended deadline with access to the beta program of Account Activity API will surely help developers in figuring out how they can proceed to solve this problem.
