Twitter for Android: the best apps reviewed

You know what's awesome? Cookie dough ice cream. But when it comes to the smartphone market, the 18-month-old, steadily-growing Android platform is equally wondrous. Sure, Google may have a tiny bit of catching up to do when compared with Apple's market share, but at least Android users are already spoiled with a handful of good Twitter apps. Better yet, Twitter has now thrown in its official app to spice up the competition, so we thought it'd be interesting to put it head-to-head against the third-party clients. Read on to find out if we have a winner.

Let's start off with a quick introduction to each of the Twitter clients that we'll be comparing, but do bear with us while we give the newcomer a slightly longer rundown:

Twitter for Android

Knowing that the successful Tweetie 2 for iPhone is now under Twitter Inc.'s wing, we naturally had high hopes for Twitter's very own app for Android (2.1 and beyond, specifically). Sadly, it wasn't a good start -- every time the app launches, you're greeted by the menu (pictured above) instead of the timeline; alas, there's no option to pick the latter, but you can sort of solve this by launching from the widgets instead. We also find it slightly cumbersome to switch between the general feed, mentions and favorites timelines -- there are no permanent timeline tabs on the screen as offered by most other apps, so you'd have to tap on the top-left icon or go back to the menu for the other timelines.

Another complaint we have is the inconsistency of the retweet feature -- for some reason the retweet button's missing in the "By others" retweet timeline, mentions timeline, nearby tweets timeline or search results; the other apps have no such limitation. We're not exactly sure what the logic behind this is, but what's certain is that it's a nuisance and restricts our way of tweeting -- "retweet" was actually a format created by the Twitter community, after all. Hopefully we'll see a fix for this soon.

Leaving our retweet rant aside, there's one cool feature that we dig -- picture thumbnails in timelines. For now, only TwitPic and yfrog pictures can be previewed this way, but we won't be surprised if more supported sites are to come soon. Another nice and unique addition is the deep OS integration -- as pictured above, your contacts will be associated with their Twitter accounts by the power of green bot magic, plus you can have a glance at their latest tweets in your address book or messages app.

Twitter for Android

HootSuite

HootSuite's actually a cross-platform "professional Twitter client," covering the desktop, iPhone and Android spaces. The Android app -- released in early March -- is the only contestant in this shootout that lets you schedule tweets and track click stats on its "http://ow.ly/..." links, although the latter is only available in the full version ($2.99). It took us some time to become familiar with managing various "streams" -- for some reason we had to manually add our own timelines to begin with, but otherwise this is no doubt the best Android client for professional social media users. That said, it's rather strange that HootSuite doesn't let you create or edit lists, nor does it support geotagging or even offer any widgets.

HootSuite for Android review

Seesmic

Seesmic for Android -- released in November 2009 -- turned out to be the most popular choice in our quick Twitter survey, and we immediately fell in love with the intuitive interface. Compared to the official Twitter client, Seesmic packs more tools that makes life much easier, such as the permanent timeline tabs, font size picker, support for multiple accounts, and the plentiful options for media-upload services. Still, its inability to list out conversation threads does frustrate us from time to time.

Seesmic Twitter client for Android

Swift

Swift touts itself as the most lightweight Twitter client for Android, as evidently shown in the feature charts later on. While we appreciate this app's efficiency, we feel that a lot of the crucial interface elements are missing, namely remembering the timeline position and replying to all mentions. Also, switching from one timeline to another can be a nuisance due to the lack of permanent tabs -- here you have to tap on the blue bar for the options. Don't expect an update any time soon, either -- turns out Swift's developer is also the guy behind HootSuite's Android app, and he's been under HootSuite's roof since mid-March.

Swift Twitter client for Android

Touiteur

Touiteur came out around mid-February this year and it's been highly recommended by many. Not only does this app have the useful permanent tabs at the bottom, but you can also easily make a tweet by pulling down the composer from the top. Other cool features include color tagging and viewing other people's subscribed timelines (yes, one for the stalkers, perhaps). If you want multiple accounts and URL-shortening service, just dole out €1.99 ($2.53) for the premium version.

Touiteur Twitter client for Android

TweetCaster

TweetCaster's only been around since the end of January this year, but it packs the most extras out of the test group. Sure, it may be a bit weak with map integration, but it's hard to hate this app with cool features like free themes and shake to refresh. The only real complaint we have is that TweetCaster charges $4.99 for just removing the ad banner.

TweetCaster Twitter client for Android

Twicca

Twicca is a fairly new client that's quickly gaining popularity, despite being in beta stage (we had version 0.7.8). As you can see, it features a dark, clean but also easy-to-use interface, while packing many handy tools such as inserting a custom geotag (as opposed to one forced by the GPS), color-tagging people, plus a good handful of settings to suit your needs.

Twicca Twitter client for Android

Twidroid

Last but not least, Twidroid was also one of the most popular Twitter clients in our survey. This old boy's been around since late October 2008, and users remain loyal probably due to its clean and intuitive interface. As you'll see later on, Twidroid's also the most fully featured client out there, with a bunch of locked extras -- including six themes -- just €3.39 ($4.32) away.

Twidroid Twitter client for Android

Round one: Viewing

		Twitter	HootSuite	Seesmic	Swift	Touiteur	TweetCaster	Twicca	Twidroid
Load timeline at launch		No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Remember timeline position		No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
View geotagged tweets on map		Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
View nearby tweets		Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
View nearby tweets on map		No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
View lists		Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Enlarge profile pictures		No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
View conversation threads		No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Change font size		No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Picture thumbnails in timelines		Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
		Twitter	HootSuite	Seesmic	Swift	Touiteur	TweetCaster	Twicca	Twidroid

In the first round of this shootout, it's clear that Twidroid offers the best Twitter browsing experience, closely followed by Twicca and TweetCaster. Most of the rest fell behind with their lack of support for geotagged tweets -- to view on map or to scan for nearby tweets, leaving just the official Twitter app and Twidroid happily covering both features. On the contrary, Twitter's own client is one of the few apps that miss out on handy tools like font size picker, automatic timeline bookmarker, and conversation thread viewer.

Round two: Composing

		Twitter	HootSuite	Seesmic	Swift	Touiteur	TweetCaster	Twicca	Twidroid
Insert location in tweet		Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Old / new retweet options		New	Old	Both	Old	Both	Both	Both	Both
Reply to all mentions		No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Look up user names while composing		Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Upload photos / videos		Photos	Photos	Both	Both	Photos	Photos	Both	Both
Photo upload service options		2	1	4	4	2	2	1	5
Video upload service options		No	No	3	2	No	No	1	Premium
URL-shortening service options		2	1	3	1	Premium	2	1	3
		Twitter	HootSuite	Seesmic	Swift	Touiteur	TweetCaster	Twicca	Twidroid

Again, Twidroid comes out as the clear winner in the composing category, with Twicca trailing slightly behind due to the missing options for media-upload and URL-shortening services. Seesmic could've easily won the champion title here had there not been that single red cross -- like HootSuite and Swift, it doesn't let you look up user names while composing. The official Twitter app looks about average in this round, mainly due to its inability to let us reply to all mentions with one click, plus the lack of video upload tool just didn't make sense for this newcomer.

Final round: Extras

		Twitter	HootSuite	Seesmic	Swift	Touiteur	TweetCaster	Twicca	Twidroid
Multiple accounts		No	Yes	Yes	No	Premium	Yes	No	Premium
Schedule tweets		No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Monitor link click stats		No	Premium	No	No	No	No	No	No
Create and edit lists		Yes	No	Delete only	No	No	Yes	Yes	Premium
Edit profile		Yes	No	No	No	Picture	Yes	Yes	Yes
Block / report		Both	Block	Block	No	Block	Both	Both	Block
Color tagging		No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Themes		No	No	No	No	Premium (2)	Yes (2)	No	Premium (6)
Widgets		2	No	1	1	Premium	2	1	Premium
Android share integration		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Background notification		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
		Twitter	HootSuite	Seesmic	Swift	Touiteur	TweetCaster	Twicca	Twidroid

As you can see in this final round, most of the third-party apps here don't fare as well as the official Twitter app when it comes to list management, profile editing and widgets. On the other hand, Twitter's app could do with support for multiple accounts to catch up with this round's winner -- TweetCaster. Technically, Twidroid's equally as good as TweetCaster in this round, provided that you don't mind paying €3.39 ($4.32) for the pro version; otherwise you'd just have to bear with TweetCaster's ad banners, or pay $4.99 for the ad-free version -- it's nice to support the developers, you know? While we're here, it's also worth pointing out that HootSuite's the only client that offers tweet scheduling and link click metrics (premium), whereas Touiteur and Twicca are the only ones that let you color-tag tweets from selected people.

Wrap-up

Twitter's first attempt with its own mobile app isn't a bad one -- it's certainly one of the prettiest choices in the market right now, but at the end of the day, for us Twidroid easily took the crown as the best Android Twitter app, with TweetCaster as the runner-up and Twicca in third place. That said, the official app is still the only candidate that offers deep integration within the OS (like the aforementioned contacts linking). If Twitter wants to play catch-up, all we ask for is for its app to remember timeline position, show conversation threads, allow replying to all mentions, and support video upload. Better still, Twitter should consider letting its users view nearby tweets on a map -- we can already do this on Tweetie 2 (soon to be the official iPhone Twitter app), so why not make this a first on Android as well? It'll be super useful for users to find out about regional events, regardless of radial distance. Until these ideas are implemented on the official app, third-party Android developers can safely stay in the Twitter game.

[Richard Lai Posted May 6th 2010 6:01PM]

@Larz I'll clarify to you as well: that was referring to the market share. You're the third person to have misinterpreted this so I've tweaked the article. :)

[Larz Posted May 6th 2010 6:07PM]

@Richard Lai
Ah, thanks for the clarity. That makes sense then. I don't really follow sales figures, so I have no idea, which is why I jumped to that conclusion.

In my experience, the highest sales figures go to fads and anything that appeals to tweens (things like Furbies, Hanna Montana, etc.), so I don't really find those numbers to be useful to me personally.

[Richard Lai Posted May 6th 2010 6:10PM]

@Larz No worries, was my fault. Also, I'm an iPhone user converted to Android, and I doubt I'd be going back to the iPhone any time soon -- my phone collection there says it all. :)

[Larz Posted May 6th 2010 6:21PM]

@Richard Lai
Haha, nice.

Question: Personally I like physical keyboards, but only if done well. The keyboard on Droid is not good IMO, but the G1 is great. You know of any that are comparable to the G1's keyboard, but with faster hardware & a larger screen? Engadget articles seem to shy away from speaking much about the keyboards.

[Richard Lai Posted May 6th 2010 6:24PM]

@Larz Ha, I can't agree more about the Droid's keyboard! Too spongy for me. I've found the DEXT's (aka CLIQ) keyboard to be pretty good, but the actual phone's too sluggish. Maybe the Samsung Galaxy S Pro might stand a chance? We need more Android phones with keyboard in the market.

[jareth86 Posted May 6th 2010 6:15PM]

Where's Peep? I think that Peep is hands down the best out there.

[Richard Lai Posted May 6th 2010 6:27PM]

@jareth86 I disagree -- it's been buggy for me and lack a lot of features.

[Larz Posted May 6th 2010 6:28PM]

Mighty Boosh avatar? Nice!

[ai4281 Posted May 6th 2010 6:51PM]

Engadget has a great taste in Twitter apps. Twidroid rules!

[GolfProRM Posted May 6th 2010 6:58PM]

For a site with as much readership as Engadget, picking a winner solely based on the number of "features" seems very shortsighted. Especially when you didn't dig into the features any further than yes/no. Widgets are a great example: Touiteur has by far the best widget for reading tweets/tweeting from the widget, yet gets docked because it's only available in the premium version.
I keep 3 Twitter apps on my Droid. Touiteur is my go-to app for 95% of my use. It has the best, most intuitive interface of the bunch. I keep Twicca simply because it opens user profiles from links in the browser/e-mail rather than going to the Twitter mobile site in the browser. I also keep the Official app installed for the Contacts integration. No chance I'll ever use it full-time until they implement remembering timeline position.
I'm not sure any regular Twitter user can fully get by with a single app yet, but I have the most faith in Touiteur. The developer is awesome and always listening to ideas for new features.

[itch808 Posted May 6th 2010 7:01PM]

awesome review! thanks!!

[villin Posted May 6th 2010 7:02PM]

hey guys, i don't have an adroid phone... yet, i'm waiting for the evo, but on my phone i use ubertwitter and so far it has been the best twitter app i've used. so i was wondering, is there an ubertwitter app for android? or will i be forced to switch to twidroid?

[Plazmic Flame Posted May 6th 2010 8:22PM]

@villin

Although UberTwitter themselves state they are making Twitter apps for multiple mobile device, they only have released UberTwitter for the Blackberry.

Given the amount of time that's past, I'm sure it's safe to say that Blackberry is where they'll stay.

[villin Posted May 6th 2010 9:44PM]

@Plazmic Flame i see. well thanks for the info. i guess i'm going to have to keep a blackberry on a second line. why? pshh why not?

[OmegaThirteen Posted May 7th 2010 12:37AM]

@villin Because Blackberry is lame as heck.

[Camdog916 Posted May 6th 2010 8:03PM]

I have had up to six Twitter Apps on my phone at one time and I prefer Seesmic out of all of them. The down side of Seesmic is it takes forever to post a pic and sometimes it will post my pic three or four times on TwitPic. But I love the overall look and functionality of Seesmic over all the other Twitter Apps.

[anotherworld Posted May 6th 2010 8:12PM]

Nothing beats Tweetie 2...Too bad its only on Iphone.

[mukatuna Posted May 6th 2010 8:16PM]

So what is the whole idea of this Twitter thing? So I can tell the whole world when I'm having my lunch? Meh..I'll pass.

[villin Posted May 6th 2010 9:41PM]

@mukatuna it's more than just that. you can keep in touch with all your friends all at once. not just 1 or 10 at a time through text. it's a good way to make new connections, both business and social. also, if you have any celebs you like enough to where you feel you need to know what they are doing, you can follow them and find out.

[jupigare Posted May 8th 2010 6:12AM]

@mukatuna
Gotta love misconceptions. Sure, twitter is overrun by "omgjustinbieberissocute" and "mmm this starbucks is delicious" posts, but the signal-to-noise ratio is not very different than those of blogs. There are plenty of stupid blogs out there, about mundane details of teenage girls' lives or what some dude had for breakfast. Yet, you read Engadget because you find its blog content worth reading, I assume. The same could be said of the people, companies, websites, and blogs you may follow on twitter: You follow stuff that interests you and ignore the stuff that doesn't.

Plenty of companies (like Sega, Microsoft, and many others) regularly put up contests to win stuff. You can follow the NASA astronauts to see posts and pictures from the ISS. You can follow the Engadget editors to read their thoughts about pretty much anything.

[jdahern Posted May 6th 2010 8:25PM]

Doesn't HTC Sense have a built in twitter app/widget? how does this stack up?

Im getting the Incredible soon and would consider just using it since its already there, unless its complete crap...

any informed opinions?

[Richard Lai Posted May 6th 2010 8:33PM]

@jdahern HTC Peep's been a bit buggy for me, plus it lacks a lot of features that other clients offer. Anyway, we didn't include it in this review because it's not available to non-HTC phones.

[grydlok Posted May 6th 2010 8:48PM]

Android and Me just did they same review 2 days ago

[bjacobs Posted May 6th 2010 9:23PM]

I swear by twicca. I've tried the official app, peep, and twitdroid. You can download a plunging for twitpic on twicca giving 2 photo options.

[xboxsonic Posted May 6th 2010 10:31PM]

before twicca beta came out, I prefered seesmic and twitdroid.
now I use twicca and the official twitter app.

[OmegaThirteen Posted May 7th 2010 12:35AM]

@xboxsonic Using two Twitter apps sound ridiculous.

[freefire4629 Posted May 6th 2010 10:54PM]

Am I the only one that noticed that 3/5 phones are HTC made?

[OmegaThirteen Posted May 7th 2010 12:33AM]

It's a great app, if you don't think Twitter is fucking dumb.

[lovehao929 Posted May 7th 2010 3:27AM]

its sooooo good,but i want api.

[woodraskam Posted May 7th 2010 8:46AM]

Nice work Engadget. These are the kind of articles that are really worth while and help your readers. Knowing why some guy left a phone prototype is pointless and obtrusive for the unlucky person.

Keep up the good work on tech articles that actually are useful.

[stm Posted May 7th 2010 10:29AM]

Hey Engadget, can't you mention the developers/publishers of these apps? I know you don't link out, but you could at least mention the company name so maybe people could google 'em. Of course, full disclosure, I work for Handmark, the publisher of Tweetcaster. We have a bunch of great Android (and pretty much every other platform) apps. Look us up!

[nwocollapse Posted May 7th 2010 11:40AM]

Nice write up here. Very detailed.

I was looking for something really lightweight, because Peep on the HTC Hero is a CPU hog to hell. So, I went with Swift: rich in features, very lightweight.

[jupigare Posted May 8th 2010 6:25AM]

Thanks for the detailed write-up. I love the amount of depth you gave to the comparisons, especially with the point-by-point summaries in those tables. (It's nice to know which apps support which features, since I have my own preferences for those.)

I do agree that Twidroid is a great app, but it has a huge bug for me (on my Droid): Sometimes when I flick through the timeline, it'll briefly halt and then go all the way back to where it was "bookmarked" when I started up the app. It happens too often to me to just ignore, so I tried using the Twitter for Android app and found too many annoyances to stick with it for more than a few days.

After trying out a few others, I've settled on twicca, simply because it lets me color-code the people I follow. It helps me visually assess who is on what list, though I do wish it would include more color options by the time it's out of beta. I don't need nearby tweets, photo thumbnails (though it'd be nice), or multiple accounts; twicca so far runs the most smoothly and has the sleekest interface for my usage. I also like that its aesthetic reminds me of SlideScreen and my Zune HD.

[Quikboy Posted May 9th 2010 9:50AM]

So will Engadget make a Twitter app comparison list for Windows Mobile phones? There's much more Twitter apps for Windows Mobile than the ones I see for Android in this article.

[catalinp Posted Aug 17th 2010 1:52PM]

One other cool Twitter app although is limited to local trends only:
http://android.takemoa.com
Make me wish iPhone would support Android style widgets.