Apple and Android TweetDeck apps to be culled

Tweetdeck is calling time on its Android and iPhone apps, which provide smartphone users with an alternative means of keeping track with Twitter.

The company, which was acquired by Twitter in May 2011, said the apps will be pulled from the Google Play and Apple App Store in May and stop functioning shortly after.

In the run up to the app switch-off, users may experience intermittent service outages, the company has warned.

"TweetDeck AIR, TweetDeck for Android and TweetDeck for iPhone rely on v1.0 of Twitter's API, which we are retiring starting this month," the company explained in a blog post.

"Leading up to that retirement, Twitter's platform team will be performing occasional tests that will affect applications that reply on API v1.0.

"Over the next two months, users may experience some outages with those apps before they are removed from their respective app stores."

The move will allow Tweetdeck to focus on the development of the web-based versions of its software, the company said, which are increasingly in demand from users.

"Over the past few years, we've seen a steady trend towards people using TweetDeck on their computers and Twitter on their mobile devices," the blog post added.

"This trend coincides with an increased investment in Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android," it added.

However, the post also concedes these trends may not apply to all users. "For those of you who are inconvenienced by this shift, our sincere apologies," it continued.