Twitter users were surprised when their beloved old version of TweetDeck suddenly took a triumphant return, and also announced the return (perhaps temporarily) of free access to the API that once allowed third-party Twitter clients. This development comes shortly after Twitter shut down TweetDeck and implemented paid access, rendering legacy APIs nearly useless and banning third-party apps earlier this year. Many users were dissatisfied with this tweet, so Twitter clearly wants to make things right.

There was no official statement from Elon Musk or Linda Yaccarino.

Harpy’s developer, Roberto Dering, shed some light on this, noting that they’ve temporarily revived TweetDeck by switching to “legacy API v1”. But Dering has expressed doubts about its long-term sustainability, as Twitter is likely to once again restrict access to legacy APIs and third-party apps that still violate its Terms of Service.

Interestingly, there has been no official statement from Twitter, Elon Musk, or new CEO Linda Yaccarino regarding the return of the old TweetDeck. Notably, official Twitter accounts, including those of Elon Musk, have been quiet with the latest tweet from the Twitter support account announcing the launch of the new TweetDeck.

Twitter’s recent release of a “new, improved” version of TweetDeck, the previous version of which had been in preview for over two years, received mixed reactions around the world. The company said the feature will be exclusive to Twitter Blue subscribers and verified accounts, and will offer paid access to certain features. Twitter defended its decision to impose a daily cap on the number of tweets users can view, citing the need to address data cleaning issues caused by AI models. However, it remains unclear whether this restriction will be lifted once the situation is resolved.

As Twitter manages these changes, it faces off against one of its biggest and toughest rivals, Instagram’s Threads app. Meta launched Threads to exploit a Twitter vulnerability, resulting in more than 70 million accounts registered in just two days. Interestingly, while Threads may incorporate some elements from Twitter, Instagram CEO Adam Mossery has stated that he has no interest in promoting political or hardcore news content on the platform (at least for now).