Twitter has released a significant update to their iOS app today, adding the ability to install and launch apps directly from tweets in your timeline. The new feature also includes the ability for developers to deep link into their own apps directly from Twitter. The feature is part of the new “Twitter Cards” app linking feature that Twitter launched yesterday, and requires support for the new Cards to be built-into third-party apps to function.
The feature is explained in greater detail at the Twitter developer blog:
Twitter Cards are being used by more than 10,000 developers, mobile apps and websites to richly represent content on Twitter, including article summaries, user-posted photos, videos, songs, and more. Today, through those Cards, we’re introducing a new way to bring people directly to your app from a Tweet, and we’re adding new types of Cards, so you can more creatively show your content on Twitter.
First, we’re introducing mobile app deep-linking in Cards –– a new feature that closes the loop between content creation, content discovery and app downloads. With mobile app deep-linking, users will be able to tap a link to either view content directly in your app, or download your app, depending on whether or not they have your app installed. To enable this feature, you just need to add a new set of markup tags,explained here.
The update also includes performance improvements, including faster launch times, and the ability to tab the “retweeted by” field in a Tweet’s detail view.
What’s New in Version 5.5
Twitter for iPhone now helps you discover, install and launch your favorite apps from Tweets. This update also includes the following improvements:
• Faster launch times and general performance upgrades
• “Retweeted by” in Tweet detail is now tappable
• Fix for reply-to-self in conversations
• Fix for bug that prevented undoing retweets in some cases
Twitter for iOS 5.5 is available now, as always, as a free download from the App Store. Let us know what you think of the update!
- Twitter for iOS (free, direct link).
