Fuzen
Daring Fireball★ Tweetbot and Twitterrific Face the Cliff
https://daringfireball.net/2023/03/tweetbot_and_twitterrific_face_the_cliff
Zero101@daringfireball Absolutely did not know that not getting a refund required hitting a button in the app. Just redownloaded and hit it in Tweetbot. Great story!
John Gruber@zero101 Thanks -- and I'm sure they thank you even more!
Neo-Athenian EmpireTweetBot was my door to the internet for a decade. Its awful to see it end this way.
GLindqvist 🇸🇪@glindqvist @daringfireball @ivory
Already done. Now I am just waiting on the Mac App.
Andrew Wood@daringfireball this is a very mature approach. I would have declined a refund, but offering a transfer from tweetbot to ivory is a great solution.
@Woody Agreed. The option to transfer to Ivory is very slick, very gracious.
Andy Pullen@daringfireball Is Apple forcing their hands to give back prorated refunds in this opt-out way, or even at all? Or is this just that classy of a move? @paul @chockenberry 👏
@ajp My understanding is that it is the law, in many countries, that a refund must be offered for a subscription that can't be fulfilled. And it's unfeasible to adjudicate this for thousands and thousands of users country-by-country.
@gruber That makes sense— regardless, they are going about this in such a respectful way. Much applause to both teams. And like you mentioned, it’s quite the contrast to how Twitter has been treating users and partners! Thanks for advocating for them. 🍻
mithlond@daringfireball Apple could really throw shade on Twitter by covering the full cost
@mithlond They could, in theory, but I suspect Apple doesn’t want to set a precedent for the App Store that way. They strive to treat all developers equally.
Sahajesh
peters0n@daringfireball @gruber Perfect first post for this handle!
glynor@daringfireball Thanks for this. I too had no idea. No refund requested!!
osmanthus@daringfireball This is the sort of thing that should make any developer wary of working with/for Elon Musk. What a colossal turd.
Duncan Babbage@daringfireball this situation really does highlight how unreasonable it is that an app developer has no mechanism to contact their users directly, even when they have an ongoing responsibility to them like this.
Rick Baumhauer@daringfireball Is there any recourse for someone who canceled a Tweetbot sub (paid through mid-June) after the shutdown, but had no intention of asking for a refund? I’m not getting any options in the app. @tapbots
Sean Silveira@rick_baumhauer @daringfireball @tapbots if you redownload Tweetbot it should give you the prompt. I had canceled but it still showed up because I would run out in April.
Bill Horsman@daringfireball thanks for the prompt. I didn’t know I had to decline the refund. I’ve downloaded the app again and done it now. I’ve already purchased Ivory and am very happy with it. I’ll be buying the macOS version too once it’s released.
Cardboard Robot@daringfireball @jpkmensah Not at all knowledgeable around this but seems like if Apple is willing to vet and benefit from a developer who relies on twitter policy, Giant $$ Apple with all its lawyers and power should also share the burden of unforeseen circumstances they took that risk on. Lean on Elon, not small developers. Doesn’t seem very Woz to me.
Richard 
@CardboardRobot @daringfireball @jpkmensah Apple is also paying back their share of the revenue as well.
@Courtenay @daringfireball @jpkmensah I didn’t know that, thanks. Still since Apple has big $$ leverage that individual companies don’t have and have vetting process, maybe they should have an obligation to take on that additional risk. They could drop twitter for instance over this. But again, I’m not the slightest knowledgeable on the topic and just hope it works out for devs and pretty sure Apple won’t go under on their end.
Jonathan Poh 📷 🏳️🌈@daringfireball Thanks for writing this, and spreading the word that the refunds would be coming out of the developers’ pockets, even though it’s not their fault.
Simon Keating@daringfireball @gruber no sub, but went ahead and bought Pastebot on your recommendation
Leon Zandman@daringfireball @paul It is unclear to me why those apps would *have* to refund. They're mere unofficial clients for a service that's not their responsibility. You pay to use the app, not for access to Twitter. Certainly this was a clause in the TOS? If the service is unavailable to the app then that's just bad luck. Of course I get offering refunds is a good thing. And refunds through Apple are totally out of their control. But still, are they really forced to refund?
Darryl RettigThanks for the kick in the ass, @daringfireball. Used Tweetbot for years for free. Paid to upgrade @ivory. Worth every penny.