Nitter

Last updated

Nitter
Developer(s) Zedeus (and contributors)
Initial release19 June 2019;
5 years ago (2019-06-19)
Stable release
2024.01.12-52db03b / 12 January 2024;
12 months ago (2024-01-12)
Repository github.com/zedeus/nitter
Written in Nim, SCSS, Python, CSS, JavaScript
Operating system Unix-like
Platform Web
License AGPLv3+ [1]
Website nitter.net OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
As of29 October 2023;15 months ago (2023-10-29)

Nitter is a free and open source alternative viewer for Twitter, focusing on privacy and performance. [2] [3]

Contents

Features

The user interface was designed to be minimalist and resemble the classic Twitter desktop layout. [3] [4] Since the user could not log in to Twitter through Nitter, Nitter had no notifications, no home feed, and no ability to tweet. By default, Nitter had no infinite scroll. [5] It had no ads or tracking, and the timeline was in chronological order. [4] Nitter relied on a glitch that allowed creating a large amount of "guest accounts" using proxy servers in order to fetch content. [6]

In addition to the official web instance, there are unofficial public web instances, as well as community-contributed mobile apps and browser extensions. [7] [5]

Nitter was funded by donations as well as a grant from NLnet's NGI fund. [8]

Discontinuation

Nitter was officially discontinued in February 2024. The developer had announced the project was "dead" after Twitter removed the guest account feature, on which Nitter relied, in January 2024. [6] Some instances had previously stopped working some months before due to changes to the Twitter API. [9] The developer stated instances could be self-hosted by having users use their own account, at the risk of the account being banned. [10]

Revival

On 6 February 2025, Zedeus announced that the project was back on GitHub Discussions. [11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Alternative Twitter front-end". 30 June 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2023– via GitHub.
  2. ↑ "About". Nitter. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Get 'Old Twitter' back, or something like it, with these alternative approaches". INQUIRER.net. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 Maxwell, Tom. "Nitter is a new front-end for Twitter that helps hide you from advertisers". Input. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 Pot, Justin (6 February 2023). "This Tool Makes Twitter More Bearable to Read". Wired. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  6. 1 2 Brodkin, Jon (15 February 2024). "Twitter front-end Nitter dies as Musk wins war against third-party services". Ars Technica. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  7. ↑ Brinkmann, Martin (16 March 2022). "LibRedirect loads privacy-friendly sites automatically when you load YouTube, Search, TikTok and other sites". gHacks Technology News. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "NLnet; Nitter". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  9. ↑ Sarabia, Chema (19 February 2024). "You can no longer access Twitter without an account: Elon Musk has won". Softonic. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  10. ↑ "nitter.net certificate expired on 15:08:30 GMT · Issue #1155 · zedeus/nitter". GitHub. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "nitter.net is back · zedeus nitter · Discussion #1212". GitHub. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
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