One of the most popular news apps for iOS is getting a little more … popular today. Personalized magazine app Zite is updating its app for the iPad and iPhone to highlight its most read and shared items and to provide support for iOS Airdrop.
Zite for iOS 2.5 gives one of the app’s most used sections a big boost. “Popular on Zite” accounts for nearly 14% of all clicks on the iPad app and will not appear as a module section on the iPhone. Popular on Zite is populated by the most read and shared stories on the app.
As Zite normally pushes articles to users based on their predetermined preferences and reading habits, Popular on Zite is a section that provides a little more serendipity to the news app, giving users intriguing content that they might not otherwise come across.
See also: Why One Big Mobile News Publisher Is Embracing Google Glass
Zite is also making its email sharing easier in its new update. In the age of social sharing, email is still the most popular way for users on Zite to share content through the app. About 50% of article sharing from Zite is email, with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, in that order, the next most popular. Emailed stories from the app will now feature a picture from the story and a summary, whereas the old email sharing was little more than a link from the app.
Users will also be able to share stories through iOS 7’s new Airdrop features where content can be shared to other users’ smartphones or tablets through Wi-Fi Direct or Bluetooth. In addition to various bug fixes in the new update, Zite also promises that if the app crashes that it will bring users back to the article they were reading before when the app is opened again.
Zite has promised a similar update to its Android app. Zite said there was no version of the app for Windows 8.1 RT in the works as iOS is the company’s current focus. Zite is a wholly owned subsidiary of CNN, acquired in August 2011.
