Phone-owning journalists, we’ve got some big news for you.
Today, we’re releasing our new, improved, powerful mobile iOS app.
For the last four months, our team has been working hard to build an enjoyable, on-the-go experience that brings you all your most important data—whether you’re in line for groceries or just stepping away from your desk. We think you’re really going to like it. Let’s dig into how we made it happen.
It all started with listening: We read through your feedback emails, documented your bug reports, and most importantly, we met in person with a whole bunch of you. We wanted to know what you dug about our current app and what you thought might make the experience better.
Through many design iterations and feedback sessions with our beta testers (huge thanks to y’all!), here’s how we translated what we heard from you into the new app:
First things first, your Top Pages
This is the guts. This is what we heard is most important for you to see. Now your site’s Total Concurrents are front and center, and we added in the animated dial to let you know, top level, where you’re at right now in a clean, no frills design.
Richer traffic sources
Tab over to Overview, and you can view how different traffic sources are contributing to your concurrent count over time. Pivot left and right to home in on top referrers within those categories. This feature is now also available on the page detail level, so you can better understand where your readers are coming from for every piece of content.
Page deep dives
Speaking of page details, you can now zoom in on the content that matters to you most. Tapping on a particular story will bring you to a thorough overview of how that post is performing.
Filtering galore
You want to see what’s important to you. Now you can click on Filter in the top right of your navigation and choose a section, author, traffic source, or referrer to dig deep into the traffic patterns you’re seeing in real time.
More data, more viz
You know just as well as we do that it’s not just the clicks you get, but the attention you keep that matters. You’ll now find two signature Chartbeat metrics — Recirculation and Engaged Time — in the mix. These are the kind of meaningful metrics that help you grow your audience, not just scavenge for pageviews.
You’ll also get breakdowns of your sites’ visitors by their frequency of return and what device they are using in an engaging visual display.
Site-switching
The app will now remember, automatically save, and return you back to the last site you were viewing the next time you open the app. No more futzing with settings.
Now, hop on over to the app store and download it!
And while we hope you love this update, there’s always work to be done. Want to help us prioritize the wish list? Email your thoughts to support@chartbeat.com. And if you have something nice to say *fingers crossed*, be a pal and leave us a review in the app store?
Before we close out this post, a huge tip of the hat to the Chartbeat dev team who wrote this entire app using React Native, which we were synchronously learning and teaching ourselves as the React community was building it. At Chartbeat, we take our commitment to learning and self-improvement seriously, and as you can see, the results are pretty fantastic.
*Please note: some features are available to Chartbeat Publishing clients only. Want the app in all its glory? Send us a note to productoutreach@chartbeat.com to learn more about upgrading to our Chartbeat Publishing suite.
PS: Android users, we hear you, it’s coming… If you could do us a favor and fill out this form we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop!
For a full walkthrough of all the new bells and whistles check out our orientation guide.