Apptizr “ the iPhone app discovery and recommendations service “ has now got an iPhone app as well. We ‘ve covered the Apptizr recommendations site before, and of course it makes sense to see them adding an iPhone app to their overall app discovery package.
Apps discovery is an increasingly hot area, as the number of apps available in the iPhone App Store continues to grow to more and more surreal levels “ and Apptizr is another strong contender in this area.
Here ‘s a slice of its App Store description:
Apptizr is the easiest way to discover the best apps for your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Apptizr is your personal assistant that finds and serves up great apps to you based on your tastes. To begin, you simply give us the name of your favorite app or the genre of apps you like. You can also tell us what else you are interested in. Apptizr then goes to work and uses our proprietary algorithm to bring you the best apps that match your tastes.
Our engine is smart enough to learn more about your preferences over time as you tell us whether you like, dislike, or already own the recommended apps we show you. We keep track of all of the apps you own and like. You can easily share any app with a friend or download it. Ten new recommendations will be generated for you each week but you can also request more at any time. Apptizr also evaluates the applications for quality and only recommends the best apps in each category to you.
Apptizr does not import your existing set of installed apps as a starting reference point. This is a drawback seen in quite a few discovery apps I ‘ve tried, so you need to spend some time letting it know about your likes and dislikes, and about apps that you already own.
If you ‘re new to the app and have not used the web-based recommendations service before you ‘ll need to create a free account (quick and painless) and start telling it a little about what sort of apps you ‘re interested in (by selecting categories of interest mainly). If you already have an account, then you start by logging into it in the iPhone app “ and your current set of recommendations will be visible.
On the main Recommended Apps tab, tapping on any of the listed recommended apps takes you to the App Details screen. This screen is very well presented and shows the app title, its price, a short description, and screenshots.
For screenshots viewing, there is a Play button that will present all of them in quick slide-show sort of form, and Rewind and Fast Forward buttons to advance through them manually via one tap.
The top action bar on the App Details screen is where you Like or Dislike an app or indicate that you already own it “ to help Apptizr build its knowledge and improve its future recommendations. You can also tap to move onto the previous or next suggested app, and tap to Share info about the current app via email (it would be nice to have more sharing options). There ‘s also a ‘Get It ‘ button that will take you straight to the app ‘s App Store page.
The My Apps tab shows you lists of apps you own and apps you have liked within Apptizr (on separate tabs).
The My Tastes tab is just a listing of the app categories you ‘ve indicated are of interest to you, which can be edited / added to at any time.
On the Profile tab you have your account details (name and email address used for Apptizr) and just two preference settings to toggle On or Off – to set whether you wish to receive email recommendations and push notifications from the app. I do not feel I need push alerts for this but I ‘m happy receiving a weekly email with app recommendations.
Finally, there ‘s a Search tab to locate a specific app you ‘d like to take a look at, or let Apptizr know your stance / status on.
Everything you can do in the app can also be done at the Apptizr site, and your account details (and your likes and dislikes etc) should stay in sync between web and the iPhone app.
I like the Apptizr app ‘s UI quite a bit and find it quite easy to work with. After using the web service and the app for some time, it does seem to deliver pretty good recommendations “ for instance, it consistently suggests apps I already own. Though it would have been great to have these all imported / recognized at the outset, this does at least seem an indicator that it is picking up my preferences a bit as it goes along.
I ‘m not fully convinced by any app discovery / recommendations app as yet, from Apple ‘s own Genius recommendations through any of the third party apps. As in, I certainly want to rely exclusively on any one of these to find new apps I like – but Apptizr is another good one to keep around, as one of many app discovery sources.
You can find Apptizr in the iPhone App Store now, and it ‘s a free app.
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TAGS: iPhone app discovery apps, iphone apps
