Pearltrees, the social library that lets people have at hand everything they like, announced the availability of the company’s iPhone app. Now, everything that interests you can be stored in your pocket.
First launched on iPad in October, the free Pearltrees for iOS app is now universal. With it, users can collect and share Web pages, photos, and notes into themed groups. From there, you may organize all of your interests into linked droplets that when put together are called “pearltrees.”
Not surprisingly, the Pearltrees experience also includes the ability to see other users' content too.
According to Pearltrees CEO Patrice Lamothe:
With Pearltrees on your iPhone, you have everything you like at hand, easy to retrieve and even accessible offline. But what’s truly unique is how people can make great discoveries related to their interests from the millions of topics curated by the community.
About Pearltrees for iPhone
For those new to Pearltrees, it’s important to know that the iOS app is another arm of the entire Pearltrees system, which first arrived on the Web in 2009. Therefore, whatever additions, edits, and deletions you initiate in one place will also show up everywhere else, whether it be on the Internet, iPhone, or iPad.
To get started, you’ll have to register for a free account. Luckily, you may use your Twitter or Facebook account to do so. Once this is completed, your initial pearltree will consist of two pearls, both which will make your Pearltrees experience much easier: Pearltrees tips and Pearltrees videos.
Once setup is complete, the app’s true benefit becomes much clearer.
The first step, at least in my opinion, would be to click on the Discover tab. It is here where you’ll find new content. Additionally, as you continue using the service, Discover is where you’ll uncover content that is especially cultivated for you.
As you find content that interests you, you may add it to a new or existing pearltree for later viewing. Best of all, all of your content is available for offline viewing, which is perfect for those times when you don’t have access to a 3G or Wi-Fi connection.
For example, I created a new pearltree called “Apple News.” Once this was created, the app automatically showed recommended pearls from across the Web. These included: Apple Cloud, Apple app, team Apple, furniture and appl (sic), Apple Stuff, team apple/android, and Apple and privacy.
As I drilled down through Apple stuff, for instance, articles on the subject linked up, each which I could have added to an existing or new pearltree.
Adding content from the Web
To add Pearltrees content when you're not using the app requires something called the Pearler. This free Web browser add-on works on PC and Mac and with mobile Safari.
Each time you find an article on the Web that interests you, click on the Pearler. From there, the article may be saved, again, to an existing or new pearltree for later use.
The Pearler will remind many of a similar tool available to Pocket users, which you can use to read Web content later.
Early thoughts
Pearltrees for iPhone works as expected. Still, I’m not at all crazy with its interface. For one, the black-on-white background isn’t ideal. Plus, the app doesn’t currently work in landscape mode. As such, the Pearltrees' screen sometimes looks cluttered.
Finally, I often get lost within my pearltrees, even though the app includes back and home buttons.
Hopefully future app updates will resolve some, if not all, of these issues.
Overall, Pearltrees is a powerful tool for anyone interested in finding new information on topics that interest them. As such, the app comes recommended, even with its faults.
Take a look:
Pearltrees is available in the App Store.
