Twitter will also serve as an online venue for video from other Disney subsidiaries, including ABC and Marvel. — AFP Relaxnews
Twitter will be phasing out support for older Apple devices still using iOS 9 or even older versions.
“We are streamlining our app development for all clients. As a result, devices on iOS 9 or older will no longer receive updates from Twitter. To get the latest feature updates, performance improvements, and bug fixes, please update to iOS 10+,” says Twitter on its Apple appstore page.
While users will still be able to use Twitter, this means the app may become increasingly buggy or prone to errors.
The support for iOS 9 will cease from version 7.30 which comes with accessibility improvements, including rotor support for links within tweets (a context-dependent wheel of commands), improved VoiceOver experience for iOS 11 users, and improved braille support.
It also adds improvements to the tweet composer, home timeline, and direct messages.
Apple rolled out iOS 10 in Sept 2016, while iOS 11 went public in Sept 2017.
The latest devices to still have iOS 9 include iPhone 6, iPad Air 2, iPad 4 and iPad Mini 3.
By ending support for older versions, Twitter would be able to continue updating its software without worrying about backward compatibility but it risks using the older iOS user base.
Twitter is already facing a tough period – its stock dived 20.5% to close at US$34.12 (RM140.16) despite a record profit of US$100mil (RM410.8mil) in the second quarter, following a loss of US$116mil (RM476.50mil) a year earlier.
AP reported that this was due to Twitter’s announcement that its monthly active users fell by one million from the past quarter to 335 million following purges of fake and abusive accounts and that it would continue to purge such accounts.
