Last Saturday at our impromptu mini Drinkup, I was talking to Adam Jackson about Twitter iPhone apps and he said that his favorite was the web app Hahlo. I had used it early on, but didn’t really think to much of it at the time, but the new 3.1 version rocks. Hahlo has set the bar when it comes to design and functionality and in my opinion it is the best iPhone app out there for Twitter.
Hahlo is developed by Dean Robinson, a web developer at the University of Newcastle in Australia. Here’s an overview of how it works and some of its features. Developing a great app like Hahlo is a lot of work, so if you enjoy using it, consider making a donation to help Dean keep making Hahlo even better.
Personally I think Twitter should buy Hahlo and hire Dean to implement its UI across the board, including web, desktop app, mobile, etc.
Check out Adam Jackson’s write-up on Hahlo for a list reasons why it’s the best iPhone app for Twitter.
Note: Halo is a web app, not one of the new native iPhone apps. To access it, go to hahlo.com using Safari on your iPhone. Hopefully there is a native app in the works.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I'm so glad you're hooked. I've been signing praises of Hahlo since it was released a few months ago. The best Twitter app EVAR!
So where's the App? This looks like a website to me.
I agree, Hahlo is the best UI. At first i was seduced by Twitterific's prettiness but I then realized it took longer to figure out key functions, especially with the iPhone version.
It's amazing that this web app works better than a native app on the iPhone.
I completely agree, but feel the need to point out that Hahlo is not actually an iPhone app.
Hahlo is merely an iPhone optimized website.
ah, you must be new around here, Apple has always used the term “web app” for their browser based iPhone apps http://www.apple.com/webapps/
ok, I'll say it one more time, Apple has always used the term “web app” for their browser based iPhone apps http://www.apple.com/webapps/
Are you guys who keep saying “it's not an app” new to the iPhone? Where were you the last year?
Agreed, imagine how much better it will be if they do a native app version.
Very nice Twitter client, but it's still lacking GPS services and a simple way to add photos to a tweet. Twinkle still get's my vote.
It's like some people haven't heard the term web app before. Have you been ignoring the internet in the past several years or something?
i do love hahlo. it's got great design and functionality. i wonder if there'll be a native iphone app coming. this would fix the slow load time if you're on EDGE, or even on 3G sometimes.
Yeah, but you didn't call it a web app. The term “iPhone app” has a different meaning now.
Nope, not new. Just a stickler for semantics/
Well I disagree, both web apps and native apps are iPhone apps. I'm not sure why you guys are so hung up on this issue. What does all of this have to do with my recommendation to check out Hahlo?
I'm not hung up on it — I just thought the post was potentially confusing. Which, you obviously did too considering your edits.
Lighten up!
I originally added a note at the bottom letting people know that it was a web-based app, but that didn't seam to stop the annoying chorus of “it's not an app”, so I tried to make it clearer. Really it's not that complicated. If you go to Halo's website, which I link to, it's clear what kind of iPhone app it is.
yes, “web app” (or iphone web app) should be the happy/appro. medium because Hahlo is not a native app. Same rule applies to googledocs or buzzword not being called desktop apps – they're web applications. And speaking of Google, because everyone has recognized that their “iPhone App” – available through the iPhone App Store – is again, an iphone WEB app (i.e. just a portal to mobile iterations of common Google products), IMHO it is all the more important to not suggest that a mobile web site that functions through APIs or other transactions is any kind of native mobile application.
Hey Scott, thanks to your tweet a few days ago, I finally tried Hahlo out. I've always been pretty cynical about any of the iPhone twitter adaptions (especially Twitter's own mobile app, which is possibly the worst) because they don't work as well as the standard Twitter.com page does.
Needless to say, Hahlo has finally outdone all the other Twitter apps by miles. It's so intuitive and useful, while still remaining stylish and iPhone friendly. My only complaint is that the basic page always starts you out on your profile instead of something useful, like the timeline. I check the timeline several times a day, followed by checking replies, but I only need to make a change to my profile once a month (or even less).
Other things I'd like to see would be the ability to by notified of new followers via email from Hahlo. Then I could turn off twitter's email notifications, and be able open new follower's pages in Hahlo's app. It would also be cool to see the tabs at the top scroll down when you are further down your timeline. That way, you could easily go down your timeline, then go to your replies, without having to scroll all the way back up.
If you go Menu->Settings, you can set what ever 'screen' you want to be your “start” screen. You can set it to the friends timeline, replies timeline, messages etc etc, the choice is yours.
Re. the tabs following you down the page, trust me if the iPhone supported absolute positioning they would most definitely be set to always remain visible at the top for you to access.
Totally agree. Hahlo is my iPhone twitter app of choice and 3.1 makes it better than ever.