Tweetbot and Twitterrific Face the Cliff

There is something noble about two longtime rivals — competitors, yes, but with nothing but deep respect and camaraderie for each other — facing this terrible cliff together, with dignity and grace, considering their users first, as ever.

Daring Fireball
@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!
@zero101 Thanks -- and I'm sure they thank you even more!

@daringfireball

TweetBot was my door to the internet for a decade. Its awful to see it end this way.

@athenian_empire @daringfireball make sure to support them via their new app for Mastodon @ivory

@glindqvist @daringfireball @ivory

Already done. Now I am just waiting on the Mac App.

@athenian_empire @daringfireball @ivory yeah, me too! Really looking forward to try it out.
@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.
@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. 🍻
@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.
@gruber @mithlond Equally badly, but that’s a different story. Nevertheless, this is a great move from both companies. I downloaded Tweetbot and did the decent thing. Thanks for sharing this and the write-up to explain 👍🏼
@daringfireball @gruber Perfect first post for this handle!
@daringfireball Thanks for this. I too had no idea. No refund requested!!
@daringfireball This is the sort of thing that should make any developer wary of working with/for Elon Musk. What a colossal turd.
@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.
@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
@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.
@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.
@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 $$ Apple with all its lawyers and power should also share the burden of unforeseen circumstances they took that risk on. Lean on Elon, not small developers. Doesn’t seem very Woz to me.
@CardboardRobot @daringfireball @jpkmensah Apple is also paying back their share of the revenue as well.
@Courtenay @daringfireball @jpkmensah I didn’t know that, thanks. Still since Apple has big $$ 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.
@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.
@daringfireball @gruber no sub, but went ahead and bought Pastebot on your recommendation
@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?
Thanks for the kick in the ass, @daringfireball. Used Tweetbot for years for free. Paid to upgrade @ivory. Worth every penny.