14 DAY TRIAL // An announcement posted to the official Twitter blog reveals that the microblogging service now boasts instant notification support on Apple’s iOS platforms. A new version of the Twitter app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is now available for free download from the iTunes App Store, featuring additional enhancement, like improved display of shortened URLs, the ability to manage saved searches on the iPad, and several UI improvements.
“When you’re out and about, your phone probably isn’t always in front of you,” Leland writes on the Twitter blog.
“It might be in your pocket or purse or on a table – perhaps with the screen off. We want to make sure you see important Tweets even when you’re not looking at Twitter at the moment. To help with that, today we’re launching push notifications for @mentions,” Leland reveals.
It works like this: those who use Twitter on their iOS device will immediately receive a notification whenever an account that they follow mentions them.
The benefit? “You’ll know who is talking to or about you on Twitter, and you’ll be able to continue the conversation in real-time,” Leland claims.
According to 9to5mac.com, Twitter 3.2.1 for iOS also brings support for the upcoming iOS 4.2.
Initially available on SMS and on the latest version of Twitter for iPhone, notifications for @mentions are accompanied by push notifications for Messages to Twitter for iPhone.
The developers at Twitter hope to have this feature ready for Android Windows Phone fans soon enough.
In order to turn on SMS notifications, users must visit twitter.com/devices and tick the boxes under “Text message notifications”.
“You can change your notifications settings at any time,” Leland caims.
To turn on notifications for @mentions from everyone, users must text ‘set mentions all’.
To turn off @mentions notifications, Twitter iOS users can text ‘set mentions off’.