Wikipedia launches new iOS app with improved visual design, adds social features

Washington: Wikipedia has released a new iOS app with improved visual design of Wikipedia's app, better search and added social features.

According to TechCrunch, the new app allows users to share facts and images with friends on social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and elsewhere.

Users will be able to quickly access Wikipedia content using Spotlight search and Siri.

The Wikimedia Foundation has been launching these updates to its mobile application, with the goal of making its native version more attractive, easier to use, and generally more engaging. The idea is to make the app something that's compelling enough to pop into from time to time, even if users are not actively searching for a topic.

The app has been improved to make accessing its content easier and quicker, considering limited time and small screens of mobile users. The app now has a cleaner design with a short descriptor of the topic right at the top of the screen that makes it possible to get a simple answer within seconds. A large image is shown before the articles to make the app more visual interest.

Also, search function has been given a tune up with a higher contrast search bar and showing recent searches by the user. Each article will have a section at the bottom connecting user to additional information on the topic.

The app now also lets users create images overlaid with text from an article that can be shared using social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, email or text, and more.

The feature of sharing articles using social had been previously released on Android.

Wikipedia has nearly half a billion monthly visitors accessing its online encyclopedia having over 34 million articles that span 288 languages.