Introduction
Looking into the future of steemit.com, mobile user experience will be one of the most important aspects when it comes down to mass adoption.
This is why I have decided to do a test how well steemit.com is usable via smartphone at the moment. I grabbed my iPhone 6S with the latest iOS 11.1.2 and tested five methods of using steemit.com.
Of course the test is only representing my personal favors in some points - however I will of course explain why I decided in a specific way.
Testing
The test results were put into three categories:
Design
Functionality
Speed
In each categorie I gave away points from "5" to "1". Five points were given to the winner, four to the second place and so on.
In the end I added up the points from all categories in oder to get the final rankings.
The candidates
1. eSteem
As far as I know, eSteem is the only app available in the official App-Store at the moment. Therefore some might think, that this was an easy win for eSteem. But was it?
2. Steepshot
A future app which aims to be the instagram of the steem network. Even though there is a link to the App-Store on their website (https://steepshot.io), @steepshot was not available in the Austrian App-Store. Therefore I used "Steepshot for Web" via Safari.
3. Zappl
This one tries to be steem's twitter I guess?! According to some of their test posts, mobile applications are under developement. But for know I had to use the browser version of @zappl via Safari as well.
4. steemit.com
When testing mobile user experience you sure can't skip the original. But how will it do on a smartphone's browser?
5. busy.org
A few weeks ago, this was the perfect alternative when steemit.com was not working well. But will it also be a good alternative on your smartphone?
Design
When it comes down to desing, a picture often says more than a thousand words. So how many words will these screenshots say?
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Obviously this has been optimized for smartphones and therefore it looks quite good on them. Personally I think it seems little bit overloaded on some pages, however you can clearly find what you are looking for all the time.
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Since there app isn't out for iOS at the moment, I had to use their browser version as well. You clearly see it was not optimized for smartphone-use, everything just is way to small to be seriously used on a smartphone.
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This one was kind of an up and down. I liked the main design of the trending section for example - however it didn't load any so I can't say how it would look in detail. The posting part also looks quite well - however you can't add hashtags? So this one quite confused me.
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Even though steemit.com hasn't released their long announced mobile app yet, the still over quite a well designed mobile-homepage which obviously was optimized for smartphones. So you get the decent and clean look your are used to.
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Like the original, busy.org also was optimized for mobile use and therefore looks quite well. Not quite as clean-looking as steemit.com however.
Design - Ratings
At first I thought that @esteem would take an easy win here since it is the only real app at the moment. However steemit.com really surprised me with a well made mobile browser optimization. Everything just looks familiar and clean at the same time. I had no problem finding anything on there.
So esteem finishes second with a well designed app - I can't find many flaws, however I miss something. I don't know what though - It is just not as eye-catchy as a perfect app should be.
The third places goes to busy.org's mobile optimized website. It's decent in all areas, however I personally liked steemit.com and esteem way better.
The fourth place goes to Zappl. Their website doesn't look bad in general - however I was missing a few things (or at least couldn't find them). However they haven an App planned which could turn things around.
I had to give the last place to @steepshot - their website just is not useable well on a smartphone. The really need to get their app out on the market. It looks so well designed on their homepage - If it is as beautiful when released it easily could go from the last to the first place.
But at the moment I would rate as following:
- steemit.com - 5 points
- eSteem - 4 points
- busy.org - 3 points
- Zappl - 2 points
- Steepshot - 1 point
Functionality
First of all I want to set clear what functionality means to me. In my opinion, a mobile app should be great for things you want to do while not beeing at home. This is the main area of usage while on the go - so it really needs to work well. Quality over quantity plays a huge role here. I don't care if I have hundreds of settings available which I don't need on the go. Therefore I have focused on:
- Logging in
- Viewing your feed/trending/hot
- Posting
- Wallet transfers
1. eSteem
Logging in:
✅ possible via posting-key, active-key or master password
✅Built-in QR-scanner
✅Option to set a four digit pincode for future loggins
Viewing your feed/trending/hot:
✅easy to find
✅possibility to switch to compact mode with no pictures
✅Notifications available
Posting:
✅easy and advanced mode available
✅ all necessary settings available
✅ drafts and scheduling available
⛔️formatting option icons at the bottom are too small imo
Wallet:
✅ Built-in QR-scanner in the transfer section
✅ Escrow-option available
⛔️wallet and transfers seperated
2. Steepshot
Logging in:
✅ possible via posting-key
Viewing your feed/trending/hot:
✅ easy to find
✅ funtional design
⛔️only showing steepshot-posts
Posting:
✅perfect for just posting a picture with a title, a few words + hashtags
⛔️no options for formatting your text
Wallet:
⛔️not available
3. Zappl
Logging in:
✅ possible via posting-key
Viewing your feed/trending/hot:
⛔️you only see Zappl posts here
Posting:
✅saving drafts available
⛔️no formatting options
Wallet:
✅ just like you know it from steemit.com
4. steemit.com
Logging in:
✅ all login-options
Viewing your feed/trending/hot:
✅ easy reachable
✅ easy seperating between tags
Posting:
✅ exact the same options like on the webpage for computers
⛔️ no scheduling or drafts
Wallet:
✅perfect
5. busy.org
Logging in:
⛔️ via steemconnect, but only possible via active key?!
Viewing your feed/trending/hot:
⛔️can't find it without having to manually type in busy.org/feed
Posting:
✅ awesome editor with all necessary options
✅ saving drafts available
Wallet:
✅clear and functional design
⛔️kind of hard to get there
Functionality - Ratings
In this part eSteem plays it's strengths and takes a clear victory. Their basic functions just work really well plus they have some nice addons (Compact-View,Pin-Code, Drafts, Scheduling).
The design winner, steemit.com comes in at the second place. Easy useable as well - however no extra points.
Steepshot is really good at doing what it was built for (= posting pictures like instagram), however that is just about it.
The race for the fourth place was really close. busy.org and @zappl both were lacking an easy-reachable and working trending section. Additionaly I couldn't find a possibility for hashtags in @zappl. (EDIT: @zappl corrected me: There are Hashtags, however you just type them in the text. See their statement below for mor details) However what pushed busy.org on the last place is the fact, that I couldn't login with my posting key there - had to use the active key.
This really sucks and therefore the last place is well deserved as long as this isn't fixed.
- eSteem - 5 points
- steemit.com - 4 points
- Steepshot - 3 points
- Zappl - 2 points
- busy.org - 1 point
Speed
Last but not least I tested something which is really important on smartphones - Speed. In order to give grades for speed I did a little experiment with all five candidates.
I stopped the time and looked how long it took me from signing in to posting a picture + headline + five tags. Of course the same internet-connection was used for all test. I don't have the best internet here, so you might be faster with all forms of usage at your place.
Since this section was only decided by speed, we can show the ratings and times together.
steemit.com - 5 points
It took me about 50 seconds via their mobile webpage - the clear winner here.busy.org - 4 points
1min 8s mark the second best time here.Steepshot - 3 points
A solid midfield time of 1min 19s.eSteem - 2 points
I don't really know why - but with 1min and 29s it just wasn't fast.Zappl - 1 point
The worst time of 1min 38s seems even longer when you think of the fact that I didn't add hashtags here.
The result
If you add up all the points from the different categories, this are the ratings:
- steemit.com - 14 points (5/4/5)
- eSteem - 11 points (4/5/2)
- busy.org - 8 points (3/1/4)
- Steepshot - 7 points (1/3/3)
- Zappl - 5 points (2/2/1)
So the mobile-web version of steemit.com is the winner in this test. Together with eSteem it seems to be the only serious method for usage on iOS at the moment. Personally I even like eSteem better because it has some really nice features like the pin-code option for example.
Conclusion
I know that my test includes some unfinished products like @steepshot or @zappl. But this is just a test of the current momentum. For example I think @steepshot would have been the clear winner if their app was nearly as nice as it looks on their homepage. As soon as one of the apps is released, I will of course test it and give an update to this review!
Hopefully this review will have helped you to choose how to use our amazing platform on your iPhone. And maybe this review will even help the developers to see where a normal user like me sees problems.