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September 23, 2009

Blogger App for iPhone

BlogPress Lite is the free version of a blogging app for iPhone that supports Blogger, WordPress, TypePad and other platforms. The free version only works for Blogger blogs and it's the only free Blogger app available in the App Store.

The setup is awkward: after entering your Google credentials, the application asks you to enter your Picasa credentials. This is unnecessary since Blogger and Picasa Web Albums are two services connected to the same Google account. Instead of adding the photos to the same album used by Blogger, the application lets you choose one of your albums.

BlogPress Lite lists all the blogs from your account, has a landscape mode with a wider virtual keyboard and an option to label your posts.

Despite promising to offer a rich-text editor, the application only lets you add plain text and upload photos. BlogPress Lite resizes the photos before uploading them, but the resizing algorithm is pretty poor and resulting images are very small.


After writing your post, BlogPress Lite provides two options: publish the post or save it as a draft. Unfortunately, saving the post as a draft doesn't upload it to Blogger, it only saves the post locally. To upload the post the post as a draft, you need to click on the arrow next to the title and disable publishing.

To sum app, BlogPress Lite has a poor interface, doesn't include a rich-text editor, but it's a better way to edit posts on a mobile phone than using Blogger's web interface and it's the only free blogging app from the App Store that supports Blogger. The application has been developed by InfoThinker, with Google's support.

How to find the application? Search for BlogPressLite in the App Store or use this link. BlogPress Lite requires iPhone OS 3.0 or a later version.

{ via Rick Klau }

39 comments:

  1. I have to say that Apple's reluctance to let Google incorporate Latitude into the Google Maps app that they already maintain is puzzling.I suspect this is because Maps is a 'core' app, and thus can only be updated via a firmware update. Kind of a hassle to fix problems in reasonable amounts of time should they arise.

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  2. Well that's disappointing.. I was expecting at the end of the article there would be an announcement to a better app.

    PS. This article's at the top of iGoogle's Pop list right now.

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  3. So if this app is so problematic, why isn't Google making a kickass one? If it's anything close to the WordPress app I would be happy.

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  4. I just tried to get this app in the appstore and it said that it wasn't available in the US...weird.

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  5. same in europe... give us a new app from blogger google !

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  6. Amen to that! Give us a high-quality blogger iPhone app! & please fix the problem of photos not showing up when emailed to blogger from iPhone.

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  7. There still is no iPhone App for blogger.com???

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  8. crazy that this hasn't been resolved before now :(

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  9. I agree... Blogger really needs a decent way to create posts including media from an iPhone. Even if it was a mobile web platform as opposed to a separate app (which is what google tends to do mostly, launched from their own app). Trouble there is how to insert images etc.

    I find the whole Blogger editor in general very clunky and frustrating to use (probably not as new complaint). Please clean it all up more Google. One request from me is the ability to insert images with no link at all (currently I have to go into the html and remove the tags etc).

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  10. Can't say I would ever need to blog so badly that I couldn't wait to get home or by a full sized keyboard. Then again, my blog posts tend to be incredibly long and don't at all lend themselves to being typed up on a hand held device..especially one with a touch screen..

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  11. this app is not at the appstore anymore :(

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  12. The free version is no longer available. You now have to pay $2.99 for an app that barely has 4 stars. No thanks.
    Google, if you made a stable blogger app (even a cheap paid app), I would consider getting it. I hope you are working on one.

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  13. I find the whole Blogger editor in general very clunky and frustrating to use (probably not as new complaint). Please clean it all up more Google.

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  14. You can download BlogWriter Lite which is free and does the same thing :)

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  15. I really have no complaints about Blogger. It suits my needs just find, but I would like to find an app, that Google officially designs, that is enough for me to post an entry with a picture (which is typically the style of my posts).

    I really have yet to find any issues with Blogger. Some people prefer livejournal or wordpress, and I have tried those in the past, but I just dind't like something about them.

    But anyway, that's just me. I just kinda' went on a tangent about why I don't mind Blogger.

    I recently downloaded a free app called BlogSpace. It's really rather simple, but it's enough for because I can create drafts and entries.

    Honestly, the most I will probably use it for is jotting down the highlights of my thoughts for a particular entry and drafting it to later publish into a full grammar-checked entry. ;) I agree with the person above me who said something about getting home to post; as of this moment, I find myself in no need to write a full post from my phone when I could just find my way to a computer when free and do it, then. But I have been known to have creativity or a really neat idea hit me and I would draw up a document on my Palm and jot it all down there so it doesn't drive me mad.

    Now that I have my iPhone, it's nice to know there is an app where I can at least draft it so when I get on my computer, it's there waiting for me.
    And yes, I tested it, the draft was in my posts to be edited later. So, that's nice. :)

    So, BlogSpace is free and relatively easy to use, you just have to play around with it for a minute.
    I also saw another app that was $1.99 called Blogium that looked interesting--I don't know about PROMISING necessarily, but interesting--but I'm a cheapskate, or at least, I'm pretending to be, and only have $1.77 left on my collected gift cards from birthdays and whathaveyou so I didn't go for it. Of course, it didn't get a lot of good reviews from the few that did, from what I can tell.

    Glad I just sprung for what was free. You just never know, heh.

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  16. I wish that Google officially designs an app for Blogger ... I willing to bay for it .. please !!

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  17. Try the all new free Pret a Manger iphone application:

    It can be found at:
    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pret-a-manger-finder/id407337948?mt=8&uo=4

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  18. Seriously!!!! Pissed! Really?? Three bucks and it doesn't even show the blogs I follow?? Plus when I'm in safari it doesn't allow me to "scroll" down through the list if recent updates either!!!
    What the he'll is google doing? TRYING to handicap themselves from future growth??

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  19. i hope the app wll better soon..........

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  20. boo. There is no Blogpress lite anymore??

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  21. I am waiting for an official google blogger app like the rest of u...
    But for now I make due by adding blogger.com to my home screen by pressing the + button...
    Cmon google wordpress is much smaller and it has an app-hurry up!!!

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  22. There are many blogger iPhone apps available in iTunes store.

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  23. Don't buy this app. It shows you html code when editing and there's no preview. What's the point?

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  24. If the old iPhone applications run iPad a different resolution, do not be surprised, because this is just normal because the iPad has a larger screen of the iPhone. But this problem can be solved easily by using the doubling of pixels to avoid pixilated graphics.

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  25. Dont buy this app, its a crap. You can post but you cant comment on any of the posts!!

    You cant check out the old post!!!

    Total waste of money!!

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  26. This is your last chance to pay respect to "iPhone for Steve".

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  27. now i've lost my draft post as ive sold my ipod touch :(

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  28. Worthless app, you loose things, it gives lots of errors or it freezes...

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  29. after this review, i don't think i would like to try it

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  30. Why don't they take the app down?
    I've just downloaded it jan12, I got the login screen, entered my details & and it took me to a blank screen & I get no other options other to go back! Very poor, expect more from goggle, especially considering the threads above, this seems to have been going on for nearly a year!

    Google, when will you fix it? In the meantime, can you recommend another app that can be used for blogspot / blogger.

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  31. How I wish that iPhone have a blogger app soon.

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  32. Ass i know this app is no more available on apps store. So may else one for your blogging work.

    Regards,

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  33. I think this application is just a trial. But no one is successfully used the application. Waiting for the updates.

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  34. Whether its really true or not? its been a trial version? and that too for iPhone alone. Then what for android app developers? They are in the plan to go for it or not? Being a mobile app developers im in need of using the app, but im having the android phone. Could anybody please update me on this?

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  35. I used wordpress app, It is more easy and user friendly. It is disappointing one from Blogpress Lite!! iPhone App developers needs to work more rich user interface functionality.

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