Twitter’s iPhone update a welcome step back

Twitter released version 4.1 for iPhone on Tuesday. The update looks like a reaction to user concerns over the big 4.0 revamp. Several features that were removed have been replaced and a few new tweaks added.

The most welcome return is that of Quick Swipe: the ability to swipe on a tweet right in the Timeline to reply, retweet, see profiles and all that good stuff. A tap on a profile now also shows if that person is following you. Also back, copy and paste of tweets and profiles.

Holding a finger on a link offers several options including launching it in Safari, copying it to the clipboard, emailing and newly added, integration with Read It Later and Instapaper services.

Taking a lesson from Tweetbot, Twitter’s app now has larger fonts as an option, and while DMs are still tucked away under the ‘Me’ tab, there have been design refinements along with the option to mark all messages as read.

The Find Friends feature now has confirmation before harvesting the address book as well. While the changes aren’t radical, and are unlikely to bring back tweeters who left for other clients after Twitter’s big overhaul late last year, for users who stuck by Twitter’s app, much of what’s “new” should be welcomed like long lost friends.

Latest from NewsReports