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Jeff Chandler

Major Update To WordPress For iOS Now Available

WordPress for iOS Banner WordPress for iOS 3.9 has been released and it includes some major changes. The first thing you’ll notice is that the  sidebar navigation has been removed. In its place is a tab bar-based layout. This has enabled many other visual changes throughout the app. Reader, comments, and notifications have been revamped. My favorite feature in this update is seamless inline commenting. This addition makes replying to comments feel like text messaging. Keep in mind that from version 3.9 onwards will require iOS7.

My Thoughts On 3.9

I’ve upgraded the app on my iPhone 5 and without the sidebar navigation, I feel lost. The first screen that loads is Reader. From here, I have no idea what to do or where to go to access my connected sites. This is a drastic interface change that should have had a tour attached to it. I’d like to see a welcome screen or helpers added to WordPress for iOS so the feeling people get when they upgrade is not confusion or frustration. After a few minutes of using the new interface, I was able to locate my connected sites. To find your connected sites select the Me button on the bottom of the app.

WordPress Post Editor In iOS7
Simple Post Editor

Once I was comfortable navigating, I was able to appreciate the speed and responsiveness of the app. Some of this is due to the hardware within the iPhone 5. Regardless, the app is fast! I appreciate how big the Gravatars are on the comments and notifications pages. Thanks to the extra height on the iPhone 5, writing a post is easier than it was on my iPhone 4. The post editor is amazingly simple. Post title at the top, content underneath with the keyboard at the bottom. This layout works great. I like how the meta data entries are on a separate screen which enables the post editor to remain simple.

Solid Update

Overall this is a solid update. Congrats to the team and thanks to all of the contributors that helped make WordPress for iOS 3.9 a reality. If you would like to get involved with WordPress for iOS development, drop them a line at make.wordpress.org/mobile and grab a copy of the code at github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS. You can also provide feedback and follow progress via their Twitter account @WordPressiOS.

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6 responses to “Major Update To WordPress For iOS Now Available”

  1. I just recently started using an iOS device, so I can’t really compare 3.9 to previous versions. However, I like it so far and the new layout seems promising.

    Just as a heads up, the Android app also received an update (#). I might be a little biased, but I really dig the new Reader.

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  2. It looks to me like “WordPress for iOS” is actually “WordPress.com for iOS” these days. If you run a self-hosted WordPress site without Jetpack on it then the first two tabs at the bottom serve no function.

    The new UI looks a whole lot less like WordPress (as you noted with the removal of the sidebar) and a whole lot more like WordPress.com.

    Is this a problem? I’m not sure. But at what point do we realise that this WordPress app is actually being used primarily to push WordPress.com?

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    • Well the app is an Automattic product, so it makes sense to me that as the app has continued to update, it serves as a tool primarily for WordPress.com users. I’m happy that it still supports self hosted stuff, but I won’t ever use the reader tab. I want the app’s primary focus to be publishing / writing.

      All in all, I think it’s a great update – I just don’t find ‘Reader’ useful.

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  3. I couldn’t be more devoted to WordPress and I use it in all of my web solutions. However, this app continues to be a major waste of time. There is always some issue with it – and generally not big things, but just little things that assure some measure of frustration each time it is used.

    I fire the thing up each time there is an upgrade hoping for a good experience with it, but that hasn’t happened yet. After reading your article, I gave it another try. Your tip about the “Me” button saved me the time of trying to find my sites. But when clicking on one of them, the app only shows me the posts that were created more than a year and a half ago! No amount of refreshing or restarting the app corrects that. So once again, an upgraded app that still can’t seem to pull together all of the details.

    sjt

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