Now that LinkedIn’s iPad app is here, it’s clear the simple yet sophisticated tool was worth the wait. The iPad app proves that LinkedIn not only understands mobile, but also how mobile users want to interact with the site’s features and content while using a tablet.
So let’s take a look at what the LinkedIn app has to offer—and why it might just be a must-have for any iPad user partial to the largest business social networking site.
An Overview of LinkedIn’s iPad App
When you open the app, the first thing you’ll notice is the simplistic design. In the main menu, you have three options: Updates, You and Inbox.
As you nose around in the features, however, and you’ll be treated to a rich yet easy-to-navigate experience. Take the Updates section, for example. It resembles a Flipboard-like dashboard that gives you an overview of local weather, your calendar (imported from your iPad calendar with your permission), stock reports, who’s viewed your profile, connection updates and new content, as seen below.
From there, you can scroll through several pages of information that includes a mix of relevant headlines, status updates and group discussion digests. Tap a headline to read the full article. Or tap a connection’s name to be taken to that person’s profile where you can send a message, scroll through connections and find other pertinent information. You can also email someone’s profile to yourself, a helpful feature if you’re researching a prospective job candidate or client.
The LinkedIn app also includes access to your inbox. You can see a quick snapshot of your inbox and can respond to messages and connection requests and delete messages.
Finally, the app gives you access to your profile, as pictured above. The only negative we see is that you don’t have the ability to make any changes to your profile. The only action you can take is to post an update, and it would be nice to see future iterations that allow you to make changes to your profile and its various sections directly from the app.
Overall, the LinkedIn iPad app offers an aesthetically pleasing and robust experience. It’s been a long wait, but when the result is a product that works so seamlessly with the mobile interface, we quickly forget our impatience. The thing that makes this app even cooler? It’s 95 percent mobile web (using HTML5-based mobile web technology) and only 5 percent native. Pretty impressive for such an eye-catching design, right?
Will all this talk of iPad apps, don’t fret, Android users—you’ll see a similarly intuitive layout that’s quite similar to LinkedIn’s iPhone app, and the Android app has recently been updated to include the calendar function.
Have you given LinkedIn’s iPad app a test drive? What do you think so far?
Lead image via Digital Trends
