The rumblings were true: Tapbots has released a Mac version of its popular robot-themed iOS Twitter client, now named Tweetbot For Mac (Free). Despite the fact that it’s very early “public alpha” software complete with plenty of warnings about its far-from-final state, at least two of our editors have already made the switch and are very happy with its performance. Fans of Tweetbot for iPhones and iPads should take note, as should anyone else simply looking to try out a new Twitter client for their Mac.
The Mac version includes all of the features the iOS app is known for; at this point, the UI is quite similar to what’s seen on the iPad. One of our favorite things is the use of gestures: swipe from left to right with two fingers on any tweet to see the conversation thread, or the other direction for a detail view. The mute filters are pretty useful too, allowing you to block specific people, keywords, hashtags, and even Twitter clients from your feed. When it’s finally released through the Mac App Store, Tweetbot won’t be free—consider this an extended trial period—but will have iCloud and Notification Center support.