Yesterday Twitter outlined some new API changes to the guidelines for 3rd party apps. There is a bountiful selection of 3rd party Twitter apps for Windows Phone, so naturally there has been some concern about what these changes mean. Let’s take a look at the changes.
Firstly, Twitter has put a limit on the amount of users a Twitter app can have before going official. After an app has more than 100,000 users it can go official, and then grow 200% before they need to get permission from Twitter to continue. To put that in perspective, the official Twitter app doesn’t even have 5,000 reviews. Also, Twitter apps that come preloaded on phones will need to be approved by Twitter. This includes the built in functionality of Windows Phone, but we’re pretty sure Twitter already approved of that.
The next thing Twitter changes was API calls. The current limit of API calls a Twitter app can make per hour is 350. This counts for things like refreshing, tweeting, retweeting, etc. The new limit of API calls is only 60, but that means 60 calls for each individual action. Like 60 tweets, 60 retweets, etc, but you will get a whipping 720 calls for things like looking at profiles. So instead of just a general 350 calls, you get a certain amount of calls per action.
Lastly they changed some design quidelines to requirements. It is now required to show “reply, retweet, and favorite” in a Tweet. Usernames are also required to lead to the person’s profile. Makes sense, right? All in all, the changes aren’t as scary as you might think. Developers only have to adjust a few things in most cases, though some apps might have more work to do. For the end user there won’t be much difference.
Thanks Phandroid.
