Twitter has rolled out a big update to its iPad app that makes the user experience on larger displays almost identical to that you’re used to on iPhone. That’s thanks to a new “adaptive UI,” which automatically scales itself to suit the display size you’re using.
After updating to the latest version of the Twitter app for iPad, you’ll notice an interface that looks almost identical to that of the iPhone’s. Almost all of the display is taken up by your timeline, with bars across the top and bottom for navigation.
But this is more than just a clone of the iPhone’s Twitter UI. Twitter on iOS now has an “adaptive UI” that recognizes things like the kind of device you’re using and the size of its display, plus display orientation, typography settings and constraints, and more.
That means Twitter can automatically adjust itself to suit the device you’re using, and the settings you’ve optimized on that device — as the company explains on its blog:
By examining each of these characteristics, we can determine an optimum line length that makes reading comfortable and easy, regardless of the text size you’ve chosen. We can adjust the baseline type size so the content feels right relative to the size of the view. We can adjust image presentation for the orientation of your screen, giving you a better photo browsing experience. We can change the presentation of information: views that use push navigation on a phone may live side-by-side on a wide enough screen. We can optimize behaviors: what’s easily accessible to your thumb on your phone may be hard to reach on a tablet if we don’t adapt to the environment.
So, why does Twitter need an adaptive UI on iPad? Why not just create dedicated interfaces for iPad Air and iPad mini? Well, this change comes at a very interesting time, and it’s going to make a lot more sense later today. Here’s why.
With iOS 9, users can take advantage of Split View and Slide Over multitasking, which lets you run two iOS apps side-by-side for the first time. Those iOS apps must be resized to fit on the display together, and with Twitter’s adaptive UI, that’s going to be simple.
That means you can use the Twitter app alongside something like Safari, and no matter how much space you give it, its UI will adapt to provide you with a decent browsing experience. That adaptive UI is also going to be useful on the rumored iPad Pro.
Expected to get its unveiling at today’s event, the iPad Pro will be the biggest iPad yet; recent rumors have suggested its display will measure around 12.9 inches diagonally. iOS apps will need to be optimized to take advantage of that, but Twitter’s new UI means it will automatically scale to suit that new screen from day one.
“By responding to the characteristics and modifying the presentation where it makes sense, we are able to support Twitter for all iOS devices and rethink the experience only when necessary,” Twitter says. In other words, the app won’t need to be adapted just for different display sizes again, unless Twitter feels the need to add new features that take advantage of the added real estate.
“Ultimately, it’s no longer Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for iPad: it’s Twitter for iOS,” the company adds, “and it will now be optimized for different contexts.”
You can find the latest Twitter update in the App Store now via the link below.
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