QuickAdvice: bit.ly Links Go Portable With Linkie
Linkie ($0.99) by Vividnoise is an app that lets you keep track of your bit.ly account.
URL shorteners are all the rage these days, and with good reason - links need to be short to be shared on Twitter and Facebook and the like. One of the most popular URL shorteners is bit.ly, since it is also the default shortener on Twitter's web interface. But have you ever noticed that there isn't much selection in the App Store for a bit.ly app?
Meet Linkie.
The first thing you need to do is to log in with your bit.ly account name and the provided API key. There is a button that will take you to your API key if you aren't familiar with the API key. If you don't have an account, you can create one from within the app as well.
When you go into an account, you'll see the most recent links, going up to 15 links. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to view more past links or go through the entire archive, which is a bit disappointing. I hope that the developer considers adding this ability in a future update.
If you select a link, you can view more detailed information about it. Details include: Clicks, Total, User Referrers, and All Referrers. For those that are always checking this info, it's nice to have it at a glance, ready on your iPhone. On this screen is also a button that allows you to view the link details in the in-app browser, send the statistics in an email, and copy the long or short URL.
To create a new link, simply go to the screen showing the recent links, and tap the + button. This will give you a screen where you can copy in a long URL and then shorten it. This new shortened URL will appear in the screen with the other links after a new refresh. Purely simple.
The app supports multiple accounts, which is great for those that manage links for different sites and whatnot. To add more accounts, you simply have to go back to the Account screen, which is accessed by the buttons at the top. Simply hit the + button to add a new account.
Linkie's settings are pretty simple, as there are only two real options: Auto-refresh on startup and Show all referrers. Both can be toggled on or off. The only other thing in the Settings is an About section.
If you use bit.ly for your link management, then Linkie is definitely worth checking out. But it still has some flaws, like only having 15 available links being shown. This needs to be addressed in future updates. I also had some crashes, which would occur when the app would start glitching up.
An example glitch is navigating screens - I would go back a screen and it would do the transition on the top bars but I didn't actually go back a screen. Then the app would crash, and I am running an iPhone 4 with 4.1 installed. So there are definitely some stability issues that will need to be addressed.
If you don't mind these issues, then Linkie is worth checking out, since it's only a dollar. If you end up not getting it, it's still a good thing to keep an eye out on this app. The potential is definitely there.
