(Update: it's back) Fenix removed from Google Play after reaching Twitter's token limit

Update, April 29: Fenix is back in the Play Store. Developer Matteo Villa apparently worked with Twitter to find a solution to the token limit, because not only the app is available again, but new users can sign up for it. Villa did not disclose what the workaround was, but he seemed confident that the token limit issue won’t come up again. Does that mean that Twitter made an exception for Fenix or that it’s relaxing its token limitations? Your guess is as good as ours.

Original post, April 25: Twitter’s horrible token limit has claimed another one.

Fenix, one of the best third-party Twitter apps for Android, has just hit Twitter’s token wall. The app has been removed from the Google Play Store, and new users won’t be able to sign up with Fenix if they’ve never used it in the past.

What does this mean for current Fenix users? While it’s no longer available for download in the Play Store for new users, you’ll still have access to it from the “My apps & games” section if you’ve already purchased it. Fenix can still receive updates in the future as well, though as of now it’s unclear as to whether or not the developer will continue supporting the app. We’ve reached out for more details.

If you’ve never tried Fenix, we’re sorry to say that it’s too late. You’ll need to resort to another Twitter app like Falcon Pro 3 or Talon. You see, Twitter realized third-party apps were growing in popularity a few years ago, thus taking away traffic from the official Twitter app for Android. To fix this, the company implemented a 100,000 user “token limit” for third-party app developers, limiting the number of users able to sign up for those apps. Once an app reaches the 100K limit, no more users would be allowed to sign up. This makes it difficult for app developers to continue supporting the app since it’s making them far less money as it was before.

Back in 2013 Falcon Pro was the first to reach this limit, followed by Carbon in 2014.

What’s next for the developer of Fenix? He recently launched an RSS reader app called Quote. It’s quite good, and is definitely worth a download.