Top 12 best Twitter apps

When it comes to harassing celebrities and posting every single thought that crosses your mind, it's hard to beat Twitter.

But what's the best way to use it?

It certainly isn't the Twitter website, which is sometimes slow, sometimes broken and certainly a pain to log onto whenever you want to see your friend updates or post a tweet yourself.

So we've identified twelve top Twitter tamers, from phone apps to fully-featured desktop managers, and you can get all bar one of them for free.

1.TweetDeck (OS X and Vista) Free

Built on Adobe's AIR platform, TweetDeck is incredibly powerful. You can make it single column, full screen or anything in between, and serious users will love the ability to view different groups of people in individual panels. It's the Swiss Army Knife of Twittering. Our only real niggle is that it occasionally doesn't keep up with our typing.

2. Twidget (OS X)
Free
Mac users should check out this simple and effective Dashboard widget. It's not as powerful as TweetDeck, but you still get automatic refreshing, the ability to mark tweets as favourites and automatic linking of replies, making it easier to follow conversations.

3. Twadget (Vista)
Free
There are lots of Twitter apps with ridiculous names, but Twadget takes the biscuit. It's not just a silly name, though. It's a straightforward Sidebar widget that, while it isn't pretty, gets the job done.

4. TwitterFox (Firefox)
Free
This Firefox add-on puts a little icon in your browser's status bar that tells you when any of your friends post a tweet. It also includes a text field for posting your own tweets, so you can carry on tweeting even when you're doing something else.

5. Twhirl (OS X and Windows)
Free
Another AIR-powered desktop app, Twhirl runs on Windows 2000/XP/Vista and OS X. There's built-in URL shortening, multiple account support, image posting and support for additional services including Friendfeed and Jaiku.

6. Twitstat Mobile (Smartphones)
Free
If your phone has a browser, you can use Twitstat. Essentially, it's an alternative to Twitter's own disappointing mobile site, enabling quick access to common tasks such as replies, re-tweets and direct messages.

7. Twitterfon (iPhone)
Free
Designed with speed and ease of use in mind, Twitterfon makes it simple to stay on top of tweets, follow your friends' activities, see replies and stay on top of direct messages. It's definitely one to consider before spending money on another iPhone app.

8. Hahlo (iPhone)
Free
If you prefer web apps to downloaded ones, Hahlo is well worth a look. It looks gorgeous and it's easy to access your following/follower lists, your profile and, of course, the tweets themselves.

9. TwitterBerry (Blackberry)
Free
BlackBerry users are famously emailing all the time and now they can be twittering non-stop, too. Unlike some phone apps, TwitterBerry uses the data network, not SMS – which is just as well, because Twitter doesn't support SMS in the UK.

10. Pocketwit (Windows Mobile)
Free
This handy little app for Windows Mobile users supports VGA, QVGA and full-on smartphones. It also handles multiple accounts and can group tweets into 'conversation view' for easier reading. Finally, it supports URL shortening and TwitPic, and you can customise it with themes.

11. Twitterific (OS X and iPhone)
Free (with ads)
Twitterific's desktop and iPhone versions are available in two flavours: free with relatively unobtrusive ads, and paid-for, ad-free versions ($14.95/£10.89 for the desktop and £5.99 for the iPhone). As you'd expect from the Iconfactory, the interface is beautiful and the program is fast and intuitive.

12. Tweetie (iPhone)
£1.79
Why would you pay money for Tweetie when other iPhone apps are free? There are two reasons. Firstly, it does everything you could possibly want a Twitter client to do, including posting Safari URLs automatically. Secondly, it integrates with Instapaper, so you can click a link and save it to read later. Brilliant.

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