Twitter's Android phone update lets you receive notifications from the app whether you're using it or not. Photo courtesy of Twitter

The microblogging service now offers both push notifications and multiple account sign-in for Android phones. A push notification sends you an automatic update whether you’re actively using the Twitter app or not, while the latter feature allows you to switch between your multiple Twitter accounts without signing out and signing back in (an annoying enough task on a smartphone).

After downloading the update, select “automatic refresh” in your user settings menu. From there, you can get updates whenever someone sends you a direct message, drops your name in a tweet (with an @mention), or even when more tweets appear in your timeline. Twitter detailed the list of changes further — including a minor refresh to its user interface, as well as a number of minor bug fixes — in a blog post Wednesday afternoon.

While the updates are more than welcome news to the tweet-obsessed Android community, it’s still a bittersweet arrival for enthusiasts of Google’s platform. Ever the passed-over sibling of iOS, Android receives the updated features after months of their availability on Apple’s iPhone, iPod and iPad devices. Despite Android currently being the clear leader in marketshare at the moment, Apple and its App Store remains the industry darling.

Head over to the Android Market to download Twitter’s update.