[HN Gopher] Going back to the old (pre-X) Twitter iOS app
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Going back to the old (pre-X) Twitter iOS app
Author : msephton
Score : 51 points
Date : 2023-08-17 18:44 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.gingerbeardman.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.gingerbeardman.com)
| medlazik wrote:
| On desktop, the extension "Control Panel for Twitter" will let
| you "Replace X branding changes", it's great.
|
| https://jbscript.dev/control-panel-for-twitter
|
| You can also hide the idiots with the BlueLiteBlocker extension
|
| https://github.com/BlueLiteBlocker/BlueLiteBlocker
|
| Makes Twitter a bit more like it was before idiot in chief took
| over
| Transpire7487 wrote:
| [flagged]
| asifjamil wrote:
| Unless there's something that I've missed, this seems like a lot
| of work just to essentially have the bird logo in place of the X
| logo.
| msephton wrote:
| Not really a lot of work, 15 minutes tops. There are changes
| other than the logo and user interface labels, but they are
| enough to warrant me doing it IMHO. Muscle memory, I suppose
| you could say.
| [deleted]
| paxys wrote:
| How long will this realistically continue to work? APIs change
| all the time. The second there is a backwards incompatible change
| pushed out to their servers (which could happen tomorrow) you are
| out of luck. There is also possibly code out there already which
| says to only allow older clients up to a certain minimum date or
| version.
| msephton wrote:
| Of course. But the "old" version I've installed is still very
| recent, July 2023, and I'd assume there are a ton of devices
| out there still running that build and even older builds with
| no way to update. They could cut old versions off, but they
| would be cutting off a lot of users.
|
| When I did this in 2016 for eBay and Google Inbox I got a year
| out of each.
|
| For this Twitter app, I'll enjoy it whilst it lasts. I'm a
| glass half full kind guy.
| saurik wrote:
| FWIW, I'm still using a copy of the Twitter app from circa
| 2021.
| Klonoar wrote:
| _> They could cut old versions off, but they would be cutting
| off a lot of users._
|
| Modern Twitter doesn't seem to particularly care about this
| factor.
| paxys wrote:
| When it comes to Twitter there's an added risk of getting
| your account banned because of it.
| msephton wrote:
| Nice bit of FUD there.
| TylerE wrote:
| Not exactly FUD given Elon's history of yeeting anyone
| who annoys him.
| fluder wrote:
| I think it's time to say goodbye to Twitter. Without updates, the
| service is dead for me.
| [deleted]
| msephton wrote:
| Fair enough, I can't blame you.
|
| But for me, I'm enjoying my communities as much as ever. Data
| point that my friends in Japan are oblivious to all the stuff
| people in the USA/Europe are getting worked up about. I don't
| really think about it, I just carry on using the service for my
| interests and needs.
| KerrAvon wrote:
| You're saying you're OK with hanging out in a virtual Nazi
| bar just because the Nazis can't speak Japanese and you don't
| personally see the swastikas.
|
| Let's see if we can reign in your ignorance a bit. This man
| owns the service 100% and when you use it, you're putting
| money directly in his pocket (or helping to fill in the debt
| hole).
|
| https://theconversation.com/antisemitism-on-twitter-has-
| more...
|
| https://news.yahoo.com/gets-better-steps-back-
| twitter-222417...
|
| https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/31/tech/twitter-lawsuit-hate-
| spe...
|
| Are you really OK with this?
| love2read wrote:
| It's getting more updates than ever?
| iguessthislldo wrote:
| I think that's their issue with it.
| natch wrote:
| "Without updates, the service is dead for me."
|
| hmm, they have an odd way of saying that then.
| haunter wrote:
| Nice guide! I wish there was something like this for apps that
| have been completely erased from AppStore (not even available
| under the purchased history). Afaik apart from jailbreaking there
| is no way to install those.
| dendrite9 wrote:
| Yeah I have an app I like that has been deleted from the google
| play store. It's on an old phone and I want to figure out how
| to get it on a newer phone.
| msephton wrote:
| For Android there are sources for old APKs and you can verify
| fairly easily that they have not been tampered with. Once
| installed, you can disable auto-update for that app. I have
| done this with the Twitter app on my Android tablet that I
| mostly use for ebook reading.
| flutas wrote:
| You can probably use adb to get the APK of it.
|
| Or check trusted sites like apkmirror to see if they just
| have one.
| 38 wrote:
| if you know the info I might be able to get it
| runjake wrote:
| If you can get the app IPA, I believe you can still codesign it
| yourself and dump it on your iOS device without jailbreaking.
|
| https://rderik.com/blog/resigning-ios-apps-from-an-ipa-for-m...
| 3cats-in-a-coat wrote:
| That's an interesting guide for getting old apps. But I don't
| understand the obsession with going back to old Twitter. Twitter
| is not the app. It's the live service. It's what it is. Yes it
| sucks. Embrace it. If it sucks then stop using it. If it doesn't
| suck enough keep using it and voice your opinions. But we can't
| turn back time. You get to pick between two broken apps. Old and
| broken or new and broken. The old Twitter is gone.
| [deleted]
| brucethemoose2 wrote:
| This is still interesting, because its way around new X anti-
| features.
|
| You can't really bypass them on web or in the new app. But
| Twitter has no choice but to support old iOS/Android apps,
| where, for whatever reason, auto update is not working, lest
| they lose thousands of users.
|
| My mother broke auto update on her old Galaxy. I dont even know
| _how_ she did it, as it should be working, but it is not, and
| she won 't let anyone mess with it too much...
| msephton wrote:
| Exactly, they have to support old versions, and this is a
| very recent old version from last month.
|
| On Android, it's possible: you can install an old version and
| then turn off auto-updates at a per-app level.
| brucethemoose2 wrote:
| Yeah but it seems to be broken globally, even though its
| enabled in Google Play. It doesn't seem to be disabled per
| app.
|
| And she likes it that way anyway, and she gets upset when
| UIs change and such.
| msephton wrote:
| At it's most basic I have muscle memory and habit involving the
| old icon, interface labels, and so on. That's enough for me to
| want to do this.
|
| I'm only talking about the app here, of course, though you seem
| to be conflating the app and the platform/service.
|
| Personally, I don't see the types of problematic content that
| have apparently increased on the platform, never have. I just
| use it how I've always used it and I'm happy enough. YMMV
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