Twitter took to its blog today to announce an update to its official app for Android. The latest version is a significant overhaul, giving the app a new look and feel that makes it much easier to access your activity and discover timelines. There are also a few new features that’ll improve the sending and receiving of direct messages. The biggest change to Twitter for Android is the addition of photos to direct messages. Right before Instagram is expected to announce a private messaging feature, Twitter beat the photo sharing service to the punch with a similar feature that gives users the ability to privately send and receive photos with their followers.

There are few other features that improve the reading experience by allowing you to view replies, retweets, and favorites only from the people that you follow. The full change log is as follows:

• New design.
• Refreshed look and feel. Home, Activity and Discover now available by swiping in Timelines. Easier access to DMs.
• Share photos in Direct Messages.
• Send and receive photos via DMs.
• Notifications from your network.
• Choose to view Replies, Retweets, and Favorites from only the people that you follow.
• Receive Push Notifications from the people you care about most.
• Favorite their profile to receive a Push Notification any time they tweet.

You can download the official Twitter client from the Google Play Store for free. If you install the update, please let us know what you think in the comments.