Twitter will reportedly remove support for third-party image hosts on its official apps.

According to Buzzfeed, a “person who was briefed on the company’s plans” has revealed that that the changes will likely come in the next updates to each client.

This means tweeters using services such as Twitpic and Yfrog will be herded to Twitter’s official image service instead.

Companies likely to be affected by the change have reportedly been contacted by Twitter already. Twitpic founder Noah Everett said: “They’re trying to control those eyeballs on their apps, they’re an ad-based company, they make money that way.”

The decision is the latest in a string of recent moves designed to create a stricter API in a bid to foster what the company deems a ‘consistent Twitter experience’.

Everett added: “It might be a big death blow to smaller companies.”