by Twitter’s getting just a bit more photogenic: The company on Tuesday announced a redesign for its iPad Twitter app, along with updates to its iOS and Android apps and a new profile page overhaul that includes Facebook-style cover photos.
While the iPhone and Android apps remain relatively unchanged beyond gaining support for header images and the option to view user photo galleries, the iPad app has been completely redesigned. Gone are the multitouch gestures and sliding sheets—they’ve been excised in favor of a unified mobile look.
In portrait orientation, the iPad app now looks similar to its iPhone cousin. In landscape, the timeline is centered, with the four Twitter buttons—Home, Connect, Discover, and Me—along the left side. Tap a tweet, and it enlarges into the Tweet Card format that the website currently uses.
How to customize your new profile header
To set a header image within one of Twitter’s apps, tap on the “Me” icon in the menu bar. You should see your profile picture with a black background. Tap the settings cog below your profile, then select “Edit profile.”
On the next screen, select “Header” to select an image to use; you can either take a new photo or choose an existing one. Once you’ve got your image, save your selection and you’re done. Within a few seconds, the new header photo should show up on all your devices and on Twitter.com.
Even if you don’t want to pick up Twitter’s latest updates, you can still set a header image from the desktop. Head to the design section within Settings on Twitter.com. Then, scroll down to the Header option in the “Customize your own” section. Twitter suggests minimum dimensions of 1252 x 626 pixels and a maximum file size of 5MB; in our own tests, however, we were able to upload smaller images via the mobile apps.
Once you add a header from either the mobile apps or via Twitter.com, your updated profile page on the Web will sport a header photo at the top of the page for all to see, with your regular profile picture centered inside it. Just below your regular profile picture, your bio, location, and site link are listed as an overlay on the header image.
Even though these mobile and Web changes aim for a unified look across all devices, those using Twitter.com still have one extra perk mobile users do not: background images. While these don’t show up on Twitter’s array of apps, the option remains to upload a background photo or choose one of Twitter’s wallpaper designs.
You can download the updated Twitter apps for free from the App Store or from Google Play.
Associate editor Serenity Caldwell contributed to this story.
