In 2018, Twitter decided to kill its native Mac app, claiming it was not sustainable to maintain two separate codebases. The company changes its stance earlier this year with an announcement that Twitter will return on the Mac, thanks to Apple’s Project Catalyst which will allow the company to port its iPad app easily to the Mac. Twitter for Mac is now back on the Mac App Store as a free download starting today. The app is available only for macOS Catalina users.
Earlier during this year’s WWDC, Twitter had announced its support for the framework, saying it will bring back its app to the Mac. The new Twitter for Mac app is based on the Project Catalyst framework. Twitter is leveraging its existing iOS codebase while promising to add native Mac features on top of the iPad app.
The Twitter for Mac app certainly doesn’t feel like a native app. Some parts of the app like the preferences section carries an iOS-like user interface which is understandable. But there are a few UI elements which have been customised to look different on the Mac.
One of the things that seems a bit weird about the Twitter for Mac app is that on closing the main window, you end up quitting the app. This isn’t the case with most Mac apps that simply keep running in the background when you close the main window. However, since this is just the first iteration, Twitter could further improve things in the coming few months.
A notable feature of the new Twitter for Mac app is the support for dark mode. You can simply toggle it via settings without switching the system-wide appearance. But if you’ve got your Mac set up to automatically switch to the dark mode during evenings, the app will also turn dark.
The new Twitter for Mac app is now available on the Mac App Store. In case you can’t find it on the App Store you can download it here.
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