While Wikipedia has had a wealth of information for readers to access, the only difficulty was for readers to actually find information that they cared about. The company has addressed that issue with its latest iOS app, which is aimed at helping users find both articles and images that align with their interests.
Wikipedia has gone the extra mile to increase the functionality of this app, optimizing it to take advantage of Apple's latest operating system, iOS 9, offering support for 3D Touch and Spotlight Search.
The update represents Wikipedia's latest push to incorporate features that take advantage of mobile platform's growing popularity. In the past, these efforts have resulted in the introduction of features that include offline access and ways to edit articles on mobile. Last year, the company also added a social function in the form of shareable fact cards. This feature has reportedly fallen out of grace somewhat, as even though it is still supported by Wikipedia, it's not as prominent.
With this new version, 5.0, Wikipedia has made personalization, specifically personalized reading, a top priority. This is reflected in the addition of the "Explore" feed, that showcases a combination of the most popular articles, as well as a featured article and featured picture of the day. In addition, the app will provide users with an assortment of random articles based on prior browsing habits. Needless to say, the more you use the app, the more in-line with your preferences these "recommended" articles will become.
As mentioned before, the app is now optimized for Apple's latest OS and iPhones (6s/6s Plus), which means that it now allows consumers to use 3D Touch from the app's icon on the homescreen. This function provides the ability to use quick features such as open search, see nearby articles, read a random article, or continue reading the last article that you read.
The final addition is support for the iOS-specific feature Handoff. One thing that defines iOS is the ability for users to seamlessly move between their various Apple products in order to take calls, move documents and even specific apps. Wikipedia has become one of those apps, and users will now be able to go between different devices to read an article without losing their place.
While cool, it remains to be seen if this will bring relevancy back to the WIkipedia's iOS app. The problem that it has always faced is that despite its brand name awareness, most people don't view Wikipedia as a place they want to browse and explore, but rather a quick reference tool.
In related news, Wikipedia recently announced that its been working with researchers from Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology to develop an open, crowd-sourced speech engine aimed at making the site more accessible to the alleged 25 percent of its reader base that have reading or visual impairments.
In the meantime, Wikipedia's mobile app is available to download from the iTunes App Store.
