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REVIEW: Blogo – Simple, Powerful Blog Publishing (iOS)

For an avid writer, there can be few moments more beautiful than getting suddenly hit with an amazing strike of inspiration and being able to quickly write it down there and then. The blogging client Blogo, recently extended to iOS from its established home on the Mac, makes this even easier.

A simple interface done well

Setting up your existing blog with this iOS app, which is free-to-download but accompanied by premium features, is theoretically simple. Still, after repeatedly trying and failing to get past the login stage with a Google account, we resorted to setting up a dedicated Blogo account instead, which did work.

The app supports integration of blogs on the WordPress.com, self-hosted WordPress 3.4+, Medium and Blogger platforms. Once your blog has been integrated with Blogo, you’ve got access to a simple but intuitive interface, complete with side bar that can be easily tucked away for when you’re writing or tweaking a blog post. The in-built image uploading and editing features are similarly straightforward but practical.

Software that takes unique advantage of iOS

Many casual bloggers – the kind that, say, stick to weekly posting one new article to the same blog – might struggle to see the appeal of software like Blogo. What’s wrong with simply using the web interface? More avid bloggers, however, will appreciate how Blogo has put together a user interface that is specially tailored to mobile devices.

So, as well as the usual merits of mobile blogging apps, like being able to write posts offline, you can enjoy features that have been put in specifically to streamline the process on iOS. This includes support for QuickType features and shortcuts on Apple’s Smart Keyboard, plus Split View multitasking – pictured in action below – on the iPad Pro, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 4.

The Split View functionality is especially easy to appreciate – as, in combination with a Split View compatible web browser like Safari or Chrome, it makes researching for your blog posts noticeably easier. Still, there’s room for improvement in supporting recently-added iOS features; it’s easy to imagine, for example, how amazingly 3D Touch could speed up core actions on the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

Should I blog or should I go?

If you’re already in the habit of regularly using Blogo on your Mac, adding the software to your iPhone or iPad as well is a no-brainer. The app works, for the most part, wonderfully smoothly – and you just never know when a great idea could hit and you only have your iPhone or iPad at hand for directly writing a fresh and enthusiastic post for your blog.

The app remains a slightly tougher sell for more casual bloggers without previous Blogo experience or, for that matter, more than one blog – especially as managing multiple blogs simultaneously is only possible with the paywall-guarded premium version of the software.

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