Weekly App Review #9
I’ve been on a little of a hiatus from writing for the last 3 months (graduation, moved to SF, new job) and am happy I’m back jotting down my thoughts. Here are several apps I’ve been using over the past few weeks that you might find interesting!
Product Hunt (Free — 10/10)- As the product that helps me find new apps and sites, it is necessary to review the Product Hunt app in my returning weekly review.
When I heard Ryan Hoover and co. were building an app, I had several questions about how the layout would be planned, particularly because of the interface they created for comments which I thought would be tough to do for mobile. Additionally I thought it would be weird if I clicked on a product and it took me to chrome to that site and I wondered how that would be designed.
My concerns were easily put to rest when I saw the app. It is incredibly well designed. My favorite tidbit that was added is the recent tab, which I would love to see on the site as well.
The layout after clicking on a product is brilliant. You first see the comment thread and up votes with the ability to view the site within the product app! MINDBLOWN. If you are not on PH, download it and geek out over products with the rest of us.☺
Nuzzel (Free — 9/10)
Nuzzel provides you with articles shared within your network (people you follow on Twitter + friends on FB). It is my favorite app to consume articles aside from Twitter. If I’m away or trying not to check Twitter or Facebook, I can open Nuzzel and see the recent relevant articles people have shared. It’s an incredibly useful tool to have on the go.
The feature that I have found most useful are the push notifications as it sends popular articles to me without needing to go through the app to see what is being shared and spoken of. Additionally, the sort option to sort by time or by friends shared is a very neat way to hone in on articles you would like to see.
Noisli ($1.99—7/10) — Noisli provides customizable background noise and colors for working and relaxing. I have found it particularly useful when working at home or going to bed. I enjoy having sound around me as I work but get sick of music at times. Noisli provides several different background noise options, that all work offline. The design is very simple with cool icons for each noise. My personal favorite is the coffee shop, which I have noticed I am the most productive while listening to.
The one issue is that the app takes up a lot of space on your phone or iPad because all of the sounds are stored for offline use, which may be a concern to people that don’t have a lot of space on their phones.
Firehose Chat (Free but can upgrade— 10/10)
Another shoutout to Ryan Hoover at Product Hunt for helping us at Nightingale find a gem of a product in Firehose. Firehose allows you to live chat with anyone that visits your site or mobile app through installing a small chat widget onto your site. I use it every day to chat with potential customers visiting our site as well as current clients that are on our site or in our mobile app.
My favorite feature of the app are the use of its push notifications. These notifications allow me to stay on top of all customer support wherever I am. It was a no-brainer for us to upgrade the product but even if you aren’t looking to upgrade, Firehose can be an incredible tool for your small business or even personal site
Spring (Free — 8.5/10)— The easiest way to describe Spring is Tinder for shopping which allows quick and seamless purchases within the app. I have yet to buy a product on Spring but have really enjoyed looking around (Window shopping FTW)
I love the fact that they already followed brands for me. As a discovery app, I do not want to go through to find brands I want to follow. This is something I wish Twitter would do better. I recently signed up for a new account and the on boarding process is extremely difficult unless you have used the platform before. I would want to see more filters such as being able to input a price range.
The user experience in swiping and clicking between product is very well done. The new page has infinite scroll with one product taking up the screen at a time. Once on a product, a swipe down returns home and swipes left to right to see more pictures.
The profile design is a great way to save for later or manage your brands that you’re following. I highly recommend the app if you are looking for a great new way to find clothing
Instapan (Free with Instapan Watermark—8/10)
Instapan allows you to turn panorama photos into video clips. I used it for the first time on my hike in Muir Woods and it was super easy to use. At the top of the hike, I took a panorama picture, opened the app and was able to quickly convert it to a 6 second video, which can be posted on Instagram. It’s a neat tool if you like taking panorama shots that you would want to share.
Lots of great apps reviewed these past few weeks and I’m excited to be back in the writing mode and testing out new apps ☺
