Tweetbot for Mac Reaches Twitter Limit, Pulled From App Store

Tweetbot, the popular third-party Twitter app for Mac devices, has recently been pulled from the app store. The likely reason? It got too popular for Twitter.

Twitter introduced a new policy in 2012 that put a cap on the amount of unique users, or “tokens,” a third-party app could service. Just this past weekend, it appears as if Tweetbot reached that token limit, and was not allowing new logins. The app was subsequently pulled from the App Store on Saturday.

This isn’t the first time a third-party Twitter client has had issues with Twitter’s token limit. Twitterific 5, another popular client for iOS, stalled development late last year because of the limit, and Windows-based app Tweetro hit the limit in November of 2012. The token limit has been a cause of contention for developers of third-party apps since its inception.

While developers from Tweetbot have issued statements that they “shouldn’t be out” of tokens, they have acknowledged the issue, and are currently working to resolve it. On Sunday evening, @tweetbot, the official twitter handle for the app tweeted:

We are aware of Tweetbot for Mac authentication issues. We have contacted Twitter and are waiting for a response. Thanks for your patience.

—           Tweetbot by Tapbots (@tweetbot) January 25, 2015

Tweetbot is still missing from the App Store as of today, but it appears as if they are working hard to rectify the issue.