Update: I’ve finally figured out that this isn’t just a Twitter App. It has it’s own network that, sadly, seems to be attracting more and more harassing users. Due to this, I’ve actually stopped using this app and have moved to another one.

Twinkle is a Twitter application for the iPhone. By far it is my favorite. While it seems a bit lacking in a few features I like, what it does have is pretty awesome.

For starters, the interface is very polished and easy to read. It color codes your twitter feed making it easily to identify any tweets directed to you (purple in color) as well as your own tweets (done in a muted gray). In the upper left corner is the refresh button, which also displays a nifty bird symbol if there happens to be an error retrieving your twitter feeds. The upper right corner is where you tap to access your post a new tweet screen. If you want to reply to a tweet, you can simply tap on the one you want to reply to and go to a screen with various options.

The individual tweet screen shows the user’s icon, their full name, and how long ago the tweet was posted. If someone has a link in their tweet, from this screen you can click on the link to open the link in Safari. Tapping the upper right icon replies to the person. Under the tweet itself are various buttons. One to view the person’s profile which includes their full name, twitter name, and location as well as their recent twitter feed. Clicking the upper right button allows you to reply to the user’s tweet. There are also buttons to send the person a private message, ability to follow or stop following, and of course a button to invite them to start using Twinkle.

Posting is quite nifty. The layout is like any other iPhone text input with the keyboard taking up the lower half of the screen. One nice feature is that, like the main screen, it color codes the background of your edit box to show you what kind of tweet you are posting. Orange for normal, purple for reference by simply adding the @ sign, and blue for direct messages done by preceding it with the simple “d” command. It has a wonderful character counter that keeps track of how many you have left, letting you know when you go over. Though, by far the single greatest feature of the posting is the ability to add a picture to your tweet. You can choose to take a picture right then and there or choose one from your camera roll. Unfortunately it occasionally crashes on trying to post these, but not always.

Twinkle also has all of your private messages in a separate window for easy viewing.  My only complaint about this window is that it doesn’t have your outgoing private messages listed, but I think this is a twitter issue not a twinkle issue.

The other very awesome feature that Twinkle has is the “Nearby” feature. Granted that it only shows other Twinkle users, but it is very useful for finding new people. It uses the iPhone’s GPS to post your GPS location. It then looks at other Twinkle users and lists  anyone else who has posted within a user specified range.

There isn’t much in the settings menu. Just the ability to turn on/off the GPS use as well as the notification sounds while you are in the program itself. Going into the Identity menu allows you to change your Twinkle picture which is the icon shown to any other Twinkle user in place of your default Twiter icon, your Twinkle email login, and your Twitter login as well as a simple help screen. Right now all you can use is Twitter, but it looks like they will eventually allow you to use other micro-blogging sites.

There are a few things that some people might not like about Twinkle. For starters it requires you to create a Tapulous account. Honestly all you need to do is just give them a junk email and you’re fine. It also lacks the ability to follow an @blah to said person’s profile. I find this a serious but overlookable flaw as this is one of the major ways I find other users from my friends. Hopefully they will add this in the future. Searching for individual users would also be nice, but I rarely do it so it’s not a big concern of mine.

I’ve also encountered various bugs and problems, though that’s a common thing with any iPhone App. One issue I’ve been running into lately is a double displaying of my own tweets on the Home screen. It’s posting fine on Twitter itself, but simply showing up twice in Twinkle. It only happens in the Home screen and not in my Nearby screen. Hopefully they will correct this issue soon. Another problem I’ve had before but seems to have been fixed is with anyone who has an underscore (“_”) in their name. It was doing a weird thing where it was duplicating the person’s name so the referral wouldn’t work right. IE: @testing_demo would come out @testing_demoTesting_Demo. Thankfully this annoying little problem seems to have been fixed.  The only other issue I’ve had is the one I’ve mentioned before: it will occasionally crash when you try to post a photo, specifically using the Take a Picture and not usually when you use something from your camera roll. Not sure this is a Twinkle problem or an actual iPhone bug.

All in all, after having used a few different Twitter apps, I find Twinkle to be the best out there. I highly recommend it to anyone out there.