iPhone app showdown: App.net clients

04.10.2012

All of the apps make it possible to navigate to the profile of the person who penned a post, but the process feels slightly clunkier in Adian than in the rest of the apps.

There's no way to sugarcoat this: Appeio is ugly. It scrolls too slowly, elements get stuck at the top of the screen sometimes, and the app simply lacks the interface refinements you'd expect to see on iOS.

Rhino and Adian are both simple and pleasant enough to look at, with smooth scrolling. Both also use small, unadjustable font sizes. They're legible, but I'm an old man--I'd prefer a font size bump. I did encounter occasional interface glitches in Rhino where my timeline could disappear during pull-to-fresh actions. Appeio also sports a too-small default font that you can't change.

Felix scrolls smoothly, too, but stands out with its sepia tones. Its default font is larger than the other three, so you get fewer posts per screen, but they're more legible because of it.