iOS App of the Day: Mashable

Posted by Amy Eichelberg

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

If you’re in the market for a free app that delivers an addictive dose of digital culture, social media and technology related news, then the Mashable app for iOS should be your next iTunes download. Fans of the Mashable website and newbies alike can instantly access blog posts, news stories, tech articles, and much more. Mashable for iOS sports hearty social media options allowing users to easily share Mashable posts with their own network on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

How it works:

As a refresher, Mashable started off as Pete Cashmore’s blog in 2005. It has since positioned itself as one of the most popular go-to sources of social media related news. The attractive and well designed app is fast and a solid companion to the desktop version of Mashable. No sign up is necessary for the app which gives you immediate access to the app’s dashboard. The home page defaults to a feed of all stories with a trending story on top. To view additional stories simply swipe up or down or tap on a story headline to pull up the entire story. The app drills down the stories into categories including: social media, Apple, media, technology, business, entertainment, US & world, and video.Multiple tabs allow for complete breakdown of channels which you can search by category, tag or even by author.

The articles themselves have a minimalist, clean layout and are easy to read and navigate. Any external link found in a specific article will open in the app’s own browser so you can go back to the original story without ever leaving the app. This is a great feature especially when viewing any of the YouTube videos. If you are in the app for awhile and want to refresh the news feed you can pull-down to refresh. Sharing on your Twitter and Facebook can be done without hassle, but you will need to set up your Twitter client preferences in your device’s settings. The same goes for Instapaper as well.

For the hardcore news junkies (like me) you can enable push notifications and the app will send you news story alerts throughout the day.

Pros:

Companion to the Mashable website
Easy to use interface
Categories for quick story search
Trending stories
Social media integration
Native iOS 5 Twitter support
Push Notifications
Supports older versions of iOS
Free

Cons:

Pop up advertisements
Load times for articles based on key word search can be slow or non-responsive at times

Conclusion:

The Mashable app is beautifully designed and has a native iOS 5 feel with its pull-down to refresh option and push notification features. This app is perfect for anyone who frequents the Mashable desktop site and wants a mobile companion on-the-go. For news junkies who prefer to stay on top of social media related stories Mashable! delivers without disappointment.