Do you want a simple way to share the things that happen on the go without taking tons of time to format a nice blog post? Posterous describes itself as the simplest way to blog and share anything you want, so let’s see if their new iPhone app brings the same tradition of simplicity for mobile blogging.
Posterous is one of the most unique simple blogging services. To start a blog, just send an email to [email protected], and seconds later, you’ll have a new Posterous blog with that email as your first post. This means that every iPhone and iPod Touch have a built in Posterous blogging app: the Mail app. You could also blog from a more advanced email app such as MarkdownMail. Still, when you want to post pictures or manage your blog itself, you’ll want more power. That’s where the new Posterous app comes in.
Create a New Blog With a Post
The Posterous app doesn’t take away any of Posterous’ simplicity. Right from the launch screen, you can simply press Post to create a new blog post without even creating a Posterous account. In fact, even if you already have a Posterous blog, you don’t need to login first; just tap “Press” to quickly create a post and you can add the new post to your existing blog later. Enter the title and post content you want, then tap the i or plus button to add extra content to your post.
Create a new blog by just creating a new post
The i button lets you add tags and choose whether or not to geotag your post with location data from your GPS if you’re posting from an iPhone. Then, from the plus button, you can add existing images or videos or capture new ones to add to the post. Once you’ve added content, you’ll see a new attachments button that shows how many items you’ve added to your post. Feel free to add more pictures and videos if you want; each post can contain up to 100Mb of media. You can then view and organize the content from the paper clip button.
Adding tags and extra content is simple from the app
Now you’ve got a blog post with pictures, tags, and more ready to publish, so just press the “Send” button on the top of the article draft to upload it. Moments later, you’ll see your new blog’s info with the new post listed. Tap View Site to see the new post, or press share to email your new blog’s address to friends.
Publish and create a new blog without any extra steps
You can share the blog directly and keep making new posts like you just did without ever creating an account. But, if you want more control over your site and want to make it look and work just like you want, you’ll want to sign in with your Posterous account or create a new account. To do this, press “Save your site.” Then enter your info and choose a site address to create a new account, or press “login” if you have an existing Posterous blog.
Seconds later, you’ll see your Posterous site listed in the Sites menu. If you signed in with an existing blog, you’ll see the name of your existing blog, and if you had multiple blogs already, you’ll see all of them listed.
Sign in with your account, and your new post will be added to your old site.
Tap your site’s name to see all of your posts, including the post you just uploaded. You’ll see the number of times a post has been viewed beside the people icon, and also the number of comments on a post beside that. You can view, delete, or share a post if you tap on it; unfortunately, though, you cannot edit existing posts.
Keep up with all of your posts on the go.
Once you’ve signed in with an account, you can change some of your account settings from the Settings button. Among other options, you can view your uploads and tweak your photo and video upload quality settings. Posterous can automatically post all of your blog’s content to all of your favorite social networks and other blog services, but unfortunately you’ll have to configure this via Posterous’ online interface.
Edit basic settings from your device.
Pros and Cons
The Posterous app definitely makes blogging on the go very simple. I was impressed at how easy it is to make a new blog without even creating an account, and then at how well Posterous merged our content with my existing Posterous blog once I signed in with an account. Of course, you can always post to Posterous from email, but this app does make it simpler to get pictures and videos online.
I wish the app offered more formatting options, though; for now, the MarkdownMail app is about the best way to create formatted posts on the go. Another feature most blogging apps don’t have is the ability to save a draft post to your blog; this is a feature I personally would love to see, so hopefully Posterous and other blogging apps will eventually add this.
Additionally, I was disappointed that you can’t manage your Posterous account more from the app. Right now, you have to login to the desktop web interface to add sharing options and change your blog’s theme. We hope the Posterous app gets more features over time, but for now it does do one thing good: it’s the simplest mobile blogging app I’ve used yet.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a direct way to get content on your blog quickly and easily, the Posterous app is about as simple as it can get. It only takes seconds to post a unique blog post and share you latest adventures with the world.
Posterous is an increasingly nice blog service, so once you’re posting from your iPhone you can always tweak your Posterous blog online with themes, fonts, and more. You can also add numerous social services directly to Posterous to share your content online. Feel free to check out more info at our review of the Posterous web service. Once you’ve set these up online, your iPhone will be a mobile publishing powerhouse!