It’s official: TweetDeck for Mac is shutting down next month. And apparently, it’s doing so to make way for a web app version. A web app that no one seems to want.
On Wednesday morning, The TweetDeck Twitter account announced the demise of its Mac app via a tweet. The announcement said that TweetDeck for Mac would only be available until July 1 and encouraged users to work with TweetDeck’s web app instead. There was also some mention of a “Preview” of a newer web app that users would be invited to try out “over the next few months.”
We're saying goodbye to TweetDeck for the Mac app to focus on making TweetDeck even better and testing our new Preview. July 1 is the last day it'll be available.
You can still use TweetDeck on web and more invites to try the Preview will be rolling out over the next few months!
— TweetDeck (@TweetDeck) June 1, 2022
But the tweeted announcement fell flat and then was immediately dragged in the replies. The consensus was clear: No one wants or cares about a web app version of TweetDeck, even with the promise of “new features.” Nearly every response complained about the web app or mourned the loss of a stand-alone desktop app.
We’ve decided to wind down the app so we can continue focusing on improving and bringing new features to TweetDeck. Stay tuned — we’ll be sharing updates along the way!
— TweetDeck (@TweetDeck) June 1, 2022
But the recent loss of TweetDeck for Mac isn’t entirely surprising, especially if you’ve been paying attention to the social media management app’s evolution over the years. TweetDeck first came on the scene in 2008 as a popular, third-party Twitter management dashboard app and then released iPhone, iPad, and Android versions soon after. In 2011, Twitter acquired TweetDeck, and this kind of signaled the beginning of the path it seems to be on now, a path of slow deterioration.
By 2013, Twitter had shuttered two mobile app versions of TweetDeck and a desktop AIR version, and ended support for integration with Facebook. Even with these shutdowns in 2013, Twitter had already expressed a desire to focus on “web-based versions of TweetDeck.”
And then in 2016 came the biggest predictor of TweetDeck for Mac’s demise: Twitter ended support for TweetDeck for Windows. Twitter already had its eye on removing TweetDeck’s stand-alone desktop apps as early as six years ago. It was only a matter of time before the Mac app would face the same fate.
Twitter has a clear pattern of paring down its TweetDeck offerings in order to make room for what it says will be improvements or new features to TweetDeck itself.
So this news isn’t surprising. For TweetDeck’s users, it’s just more of the same: Another change that doesn’t serve anyone.