Twitter has refreshed its Android app, with new top bar navigation and a floating tweet composer option.
As you can see, it's a fairly big departure from the previous version.
As per Twitter's announcement, the changes include:
- Tab bar at the top of the screen with swipe functionality so you can quickly move between your Home timeline, Notifications, Direct Messages, and more.
- Navigation menu that slides out from the side for access to your profile, Highlights, lists, the Connect tab, and settings.
- New floating action button so you can always easily send a Tweet.
The functionality makes the app a lot more user-friendly - as you can see in the above GIF, using the side-to-side swipe motion now gives you access to a range of features that you previously had to follow several steps to reach. The app's also more responsive, with the header and search options sliding out of view when you scroll through your feed. And Twitter's also increased the button size for each option, which, again, improves navigation.
Android users will also be able to more easily access lists, an element that had proven problematic in the past.
And another small addition, tech blogger Louis Gray has noted that DMs have now been re-labeled 'Talk Privately'.
DM's now highlighted as "talking privately" in Twitter's new Android UI. pic.twitter.com/QP0yTVSuY6
- Louis Gray (@louisgray) June 7, 2016
The new user interface has been in testing for some time, so you may have already seen it, but according to Twitter's announcement, the new functionality will be available to all Android users, globally, from today.
It's a good move for Twitter, bringing their app design more into line with modern elements and functionality. An while the Android and iOS apps are entirely separate entities, you can bet that if they see an uptick in engagement as a result of these changes, and iOS refresh surely won't be too far behind.