Twitter users have a plethora of options when it comes to clients for their platform of choice. Many of these come with plenty of features for all use cases, including following new users, uploading photos, posting new tweets, etc. What if you don't truly need all the features of a full client? Maybe your needs only encompass being able to upload pictures or posting new tweets? If that is the case, there are a number of apps for Android that can satisfy those smaller needs.

You will probably not get the full experience of Twitter, which includes building a follower base, responding to users who mention you, making lists, and all that jazz, but it may be good to go this route if you don’t consider the noise to be very appealing.

Apps For Posting Tweets Only: TweetMeep & Robot Bird For ICS

There are widgets from full Android clients that let you post tweets only but if you want to skip downloading a probably bloated client, you can download something like TweetMeep. At 713k, TweetMeep for Android 1.5 and up, is a an app that consists of a simple widget. That means launching the app from your app list will only show you a notice that you have to add the widget to your homescreen in order to use this.

Once you add it, choose a theme (either Éclair or classic), and authorize TweetMeep. You can tap on the widget’s larger panel on the left to bring about the little TweetMeep editor for your new text-based tweet. You can see how many characters you have left on the editor. If you tap on the “t” part of the widget, you’ll be led to the mobile site of Twitter on your web browser, in case you want to view your own profile or visit someone else’s, or whatever you can do on the mobile Twitter web app.

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If you don't want a widget, but an actual app that you can launch and use without excessive features, there is also Robot Bird [Android 4.0+] is definite a candidate app for your needs. It allows you to create a new tweet, post a picture and even view your past tweets. It will also notify you of mentions. That’s about all the features it offers.

One thing I wish it did though is use OAuth to authenticate my login information. Overall, Robot Bird is still a great, minimalistic client for Ice Cream Sandwich devices.

smartphone twitter app

Widget Apps For Seeing Follower Count: Tweet Followers & Followers Widget For Twitter [No Longer Available]

Perhaps you don’t want to receive the notification emails that Twitter sends to you when you have a new follower or maybe you want to track the number of followers more closely. There are two widget apps that are available for this purpose. Neither of these apps require you to enter your account password so you can basically keep track of your favorite celebrity’s follower count or just your own.

The first one I’ll be reviewing is Tweet Followers [No Longer Available]. It is a simple widget app that you can add to your homescreen, type in the user to see the follower count for and maybe select the refresh interval. The resulting widget is 1x1, occupying very little space and simply displaying the number of followers and the account name. You can add more of the same widget to track the follower count of other users.

smartphone twitter app

For more statistics, you might want to check out Followers Widget For Twitter, which is another widget app for devices with Android 1.6 and up. You simply add its widget to a homescreen, type the username to track and that’s pretty much it. You can add as many of these widgets as you want. The widget displays the number of people that the username you picked is following as well as the information of the last sync.

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With the huge number of full Twitter clients, sometimes you might just need a minimalistic app that can fulfill a specific need. The ones on this list do just that, in widget forms or simple-looking apps.

Do you know other single-purpose Twitter apps for Android? Let us know in the comments below!

Image credit: Twitter