Icebird Review

If you hadn't noticed, there are a plethora of Twitter apps in the iTunes store to choose from. You have your pick of the litter from free apps, which offer limited functionality, to fully-paid apps that throw in everything and the kitchen sink.

For some reason, developer Fabian Kreiser decided he would enter the fray as well with an app called Icebird, a Twitter client that allows you to sign into multiple accounts and keep track of all your follower / followees and monitor trends on the popular social networking site. The app covers all of the major features that you would expect from a Twitter client, without delving into some of the power set that only the hardcore need. Imagine my surprise when, after several days of use, I found myself using Icebird more and more as my primary client until it took over completely!

So how did Icebird win my heart?

In a word - interface. Kreiser has apparently gone to the Apple School of Design. As I used the app over the weekend, simple little user interface elements made interacting with Twitter a joy. Swipe smoothly left to right to move between accounts. Scroll through a nicely parsed arrangement of your timeline that is pleasing to the eye. Hold your finger down on a tweet and get instant options to Reply, Retweet, or Favorite. Tap the tweet for further options. I know, I know, many of the popular clients in the iTunes store already do these sorts of things, but Icebird manages to combine the best of them. And trust me, using is definitely believing in this instance.

So what's missing? The big one for me is landscape mode, but the developer has promised that for the upcoming 1.1 version. At first I thought editing Retweets was absent, but noticed that option available (among many others) when tapping into the tweet itself.

Upon first glance, I was ready to toss Icebird into the "yet-another-twitter-app" bin and forget about it for good, but after several days of use I have given up the power application I was using in favor of Kreiser's beautiful creation. If the developer can continue to add features to the app without clogging the nicely designed interface, I can see Icebird being my primary Twitter client for a long time to come.