Twitter on Thursday took no-one by surprise with the announcement that it would be shuttering the TweetDeck application for Windows next month. Twitter had bought the popular third-party application back in 2011.
The social media giant on a blog post added that the change would take effect on April 15. However, users can still use the Web version of TweetDeck. "By deprecating the Windows app and activating the TweetDeck cookie, we'll be able to enhance the overall TweetDeck experience," said a Twitter spokesperson to Venture Beat. "Our main focus for TweetDeck is continuing to build a simpler, more intuitive experience for all Twitter users." The Chrome and Mac apps of TweetDeck stay untouched.
In addition, the company gave instructions as to how to pin the Web version of TweetDeck to the Windows task bar as a Chrome Web app. All users need to do is to open TweetDeck in Chrome browser, click Customize and control > More tools > Add to taskbar.
The company also announced that users would now be automatically logged in to the TweetDeck Web client if they are logged in to Twitter.com website or analytics.twitter.com, giving a more seamless log-in experience. With the shuttering, the Windows app will no longer receive updates or improvements, and is also expected to stop working.
As to why the news of shutting down the Windows app doesn't come as a surprise, the official TweetDeck for Windows app has been unavailable to download from the official site for roughly a year, leaving users to resort to third-party app stores and software archives. The move clearly indicated Twitter's desire to shunt users to TweetDeck's Web version.
For those who were having few complaints that Twitter was not doing much for TweetDeck, the social media giant in the same blog post said that, "We've been working on infrastructure projects like this to ensure we have a stable foundation to continue improving TweetDeck in the future." Last year it added features such as TweetDeck Teams, Group Direct Messages, and a confirmation step before Tweeting.
In the related news, Twitter earlier this month launched its app for Windows 10 Mobile smartphones, effectively updating its universal Windows 10 app for desktops and tablets. Alongside, the company also updated the desktop and tablet app to bring a new 'Dark' theme.
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