The iPhone makes for a great portable device in many cases. A large number of apps on the App Store make it a perfect device for taking quick photos, promptly jotting down notes or adding a reminder for something you’ll probably forget to do. It’s also a neat little device to store lists — lists for different types of things you may want to buy or take care of or activities that you wish to complete. There are already numerous apps for these on the App Store as well (Side note: Is there anything the App Store doesn’t have? We should probably look for the Bigfoot in there.), but Well is a new kid on the block that is very different than the others.
While Well is essentially just a Lists app for your iPhone, it distinguishes itself from the countless other lists app on the App Store by adding two very important features to it in this day and age — it’s beautiful and it’s social. Well not only lets you create your own lists and add items to it, it also lets you follow other users and their lists. You can like & comment on their lists and even suggest an item to be added to those. The most common lists you’ll find on Well are Movies to Watch, Restaurants to visit, Books to read and Places to travel to, but you’re free to create any list you want. You can share the list to Twitter and Facebook so it gains more traction. If you come across an interesting item that you like on someone else’s list, you can “relist” it in one of your own lists. List can have multiple collaborators, which is really nifty.
Well has one of the most beautiful app introduction slides I have ever come across. As soon as you try to swipe the first slide away, there’s that lovely animation that jolts you and I couldn’t help but smile. It’s little touches to apps like this one that score very high points from me, and Well has plenty of those. The overall app features a very pretty and very polished UI, including the app icon which was designed by Pacific Helm. Well has a lot of custom UI, even going custom with the action sheet and UIPickerView. It’s implementation of “Pull to refresh” has a very awesome element of joy to it. Your lists have a masthead image that helps describe your list — and you can pick image either from your Camera Roll, Take a fresh photo or search photos posted by anyone on Instagram — well will add it to your list with credit. However, I often come across a photo I like from Instagram but can’t use it because the object in focus gets cut off from the top or bottom as Well only uses the middle of the photo. I wish there was a way to adjust the photo like you can adjust the Cover Photo on Facebook.
Well even has a web app in case you want to share your lists with someone who doesn’t have access to the app. Well makes maintaining lists a lot of fun and is a great way to explore new items from your friends and follows. The app is available FREE on the App Store.
Here’s a link to my profile and here’s my list of must-have Indian food items.