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Twitter is trying out upvotes and downvotes in its latest beta test
And no, you still can't edit your tweets
Say what you will about Twitter: it's constantly evolving as a service. Whether it's introducing a paid subscription option that adds an "undo" button or deleting Fleets from the app for good, it's been a busy, ever-evolving year for the social network everyone loves to hate. A new beta test for Twitter introduces various upvote and downvote options specifically for replies, though only time will tell if these tools actually come to a wider audience.
Twitter is getting a long overdue change (emphasis on the 'long')
Announced two months ago, non-cropped photos should be live for everyone now
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Twitter has been aggressively restricting access to third-party mobile apps, frustrating users by pushing them onto the company's branded version. But at least they've kept working on it, if not as fast as some would like. Case in point: the annoying image crop on the timeline is going away, making it easier to see vertically-oriented images without an extra tap.
Twitter is notorious for compressing images and videos, and it isn't surprising to see photos shot from professional cameras retain little detail when shared on the platform. However, last year, the iOS app was given the ability to load images in "4K." Almost a full year later, the "Load 4K" option has finally made its way to Android.
Twitter is testing custom in-app notifications for replies and DMs
Why not stick with the superior system notifications?
Twitter is working on floating notifications for replies and direct messages that pop up at the top of your screen when you scroll through the app. While the cards have a custom blue-ish tone to them, they don't add any extra functionality like those provided by Android itself do, such as "reply," "mute," "like," etc. Instead, they replace system notifications altogether when they pop up, so depending on your workflow, this might be the greatest thing ever or the worst possible decision.
Twitter is no stranger to server-side tests, and now the company appears to have another in the wings. AP's own Artem noticed a bit of a tweak in Twitter for Android in recent days, with a new three-dot share button appearing at the bottom of tweets. All the sharing options previously present in the arrow menu to a tweet's top right have been relocated to this button, and the previous "send privately" option is now gone.
According to our frequent tipster Gurkanwal Singh, Twitter beta 7.12 has started showing a new night mode toggle and QR code icon. If you might remember, Twitter's night mode used to have a proper toggle in the side menu and the QR code display and scanner was hidden under the overflow menu when viewing your profile. The latter was really difficult to get to and nowhere regular users would guess.
Twitter changes the user interface almost constantly on its beta app - I suppose that's to be expected. The latest new feature in testing is a live counter for likes, retweets, and replies on each tweet. The counter appears to update roughly once a second.
About a month ago, some Twitter users started spotting a night mode in their Twitter app that transformed the entire interface into a dark blue shade. The change was triggered server-side, meaning it showed up inconsistently across different Twitter beta and alpha versions, but it didn't seem like there was a way to revert it back to a light theme on request.
A number of social apps have turned to the Play Store to manage their betas. We've already seen Facebook and Snapchat launch official beta versions to anyone who signs up for the privilege, and now Twitter is doing the same. If you've signed up for either of the other programs, the routine should feel pretty familiar. The experimental build will replace the current Twitter app on your phone, unlike the Chrome beta that can exist side-by-side with the stable release. Those who opt in will be greeted by a notification when the next build is ready. As this is a beta release, some features may never appear in the stable version, and some instability may appear that could eat your cat or infect your bed with bed bugs. Use at your own discretion.