Twitterrific’s staff is again with Tapestry, an app for monitoring social media, information, RSS, and extra

The Iconfactory, the maker of a preferred third-party Twitter shopper, Twitterrific, that was among those killed off by Twitter under Elon Musk’s management, is hoping to get well from its losses with a brand new app that mixes your social media, information feeds, and alerts into one expertise. The app, dubbed “Project Tapestry” as it launches on Kickstarter, will help Twitter/X alternate options like Bluesky, Mastodon, and Tumblr, and probably Instagram Threads when its developer API turns into out there. Nevertheless, it gained’t help X itself as a result of company’s ban on third-party apps.

A working prototype of Undertaking Tapestry has already been developed and if The Iconfactory is ready to elevate $100,000 in funding by means of Kickstarter it is going to additional develop the app to be launched to the general public.

As described, Undertaking Tapestry is supposed to arrange as we speak’s fragmented on-line media into one interface, by permitting customers to observe a wide range of sources in a single place. As an example, you might monitor your favourite blogs, information websites, social networks, and webcomics, in addition to important updates that used to come back by way of Twitter, like climate alerts or earthquake warnings.

This could contain working with any website that provides an RSS feed, which most blogs and information websites (with no paywall) already do. It might additionally combine with the startups which can be providing Twitter alternate options, like Bluesky, powered by the brand new AT Protocol, and Mastodon, which might be powered by one other rising internet normal, ActivityPub. (The corporate isn’t planning on Threads help at launch, however would contemplate including it, as effectively, if an API was made out there, we’re informed).

Different deliberate sources embrace Tumblr, Micro.weblog, USGS Earthquakes, NOAA Satellite tv for pc, and GO Comics. Fb and Instagram won’t be out there, although.

After setup, Tapestry would manage all of your updates into one feed, displayed in chronological order. Plus, the app may take away duplicates to chop down on the litter — like when somebody posts a hyperlink to a number of social networks directly. Within the new app, these mentions could possibly be mixed, so that you solely see the publish one time.

Picture Credit: The Iconfactory

The staff envisions making Undertaking Tapestry’s timeline one thing that anybody may combine with by writing plug-ins utilizing JavaScript that may translate between the online and the native iOS app. For instance, builders tinkering round with Raspberry Pi may ship customized alerts to their timeline by way of this interface.

Different notable options embrace the power to mark objects as learn, keep in mind your studying place within the timeline, help for gentle and darkish themes, and a pair extra copied over from the corporate’s Twitterrific days — like muting and “muffling.” The latter was a popular option for those who wanted to know what was being said by minimizing the tweets, and offering a brief description of what was hidden as a substitute.

If the corporate’s stretch purpose of $150K is reached on Kickstarter, the staff will even work on a extra superior search function that might can help you search throughout the sources and social networking posts you already observe as a substitute of the broader internet. That side sounds significantly promising at a time when Google Search’s high quality is diminishing due to SEO spam and AI-written pages. 

This isn’t the primary time Iconfactory has turned to Kickstarter. It additionally used the location to fund the event of Twitterrific for Mac in 2017, which was funded in 20 days.

Although Iconfactory as we speak makes a number of apps for creativity, leisure, and gaming, the shutdown of Twitterrific had been troublesome for the corporate and its staff.

Laments The Iconfactory’s Principal/Designer Gedeon Maheux, the brand new challenge took place as a result of the staff “had invested so much time and energy into Twitter,” however then Twitter “wall[ed] up their garden and people like us were forced to leave,” he says. “Now you have friends that are on different services, different places, and it’s hard to keep track of them.”

The necessity for crowdsourced funds was additionally vital due to the lack of Twitterrific.

“The death of Twitterrific really hurt…Killing third-party Twitter apps really put a dent in [our revenue] because Twitterrific was one of our bread-and-butter apps. It really fueled development and allowed us to do these things that we loved,” notes Maheux. Since Twitterrific’s shutdown, he says, the comapny has not but been capable of “close the gap.”

“Hopefully, Tapestry will help with that,” he provides.

Twitterrific might not be a family title like Twitter as soon as was, however the app had a sizable influence on Twitter culture.

The Twitter shopper was one of many earliest in the marketplace and commenced using a bird logo, which different shoppers then adopted, too. Later, Twitter began utilizing a hen as its official emblem in 2010. The Iconfactory additionally contributed the phrase “tweet” to the vocabulary round utilizing Twitter, and created a workaround for Twitter’s lack of an “Edit” button in 2014 by making a function that might delete and repost a tweet, giving the looks of edits.

With its understanding of methods to faucet into the market of social apps, Tapestry has the potential to now remedy new ache factors for customers who’re leaving Twitter/X — a approach to monitor the information, individuals, and knowledge that matter to them, irrespective of the place they go.

The $100K Kickstarter goal will enable The Iconfactory to get the preliminary app accomplished and made public by way of the App Retailer. Since launching the crowdsourced funding plea this morning, they’ve raised over $46,000.

The corporate has traditionally been averse to the thought of taking enterprise capital, because it desires to stay unbiased, but when Tapestry takes off after going public, Maheux admits it’s “never say never” on the subject of elevating exterior funds. Within the meantime, nonetheless, if you wish to use an app like Tapestry, you’ll should donate in direction of its creation.