Craigslist is a notoriously mobile unfriendly site. That’s a shame since it is so useful. In 15 years it has become the go-to source for all things local; jobs, housing, discussions, etc. Craigslist has made the local paper classifieds seem as antiquated as the telegraph and the Pony Express. Fortunately, several developers have created apps that make Craigslist easier to handle on your Android device.
Craigsphone
Craigsphone was originally for iPhone and has been brought over to Android without any added functionality. If you like to browse or post to Craigslist this is the app for you. If you want to search or get notifications, choose one of the other two here. The iPhone doesn’t support background processes and neither does this app. One major bug I noticed is that you can set the local Craigslist you want to browse, but if you close the app, it forgets and you have to reset it when you start it back up. People seem to love this app for the iPhone, for Android it’s a dud. This is the only one here that can post but even that can’t save it from the obvious void of search and notifications.
CraigsAlert
CraigsAlert is a very powerful front end for Craigslist. You can search for any keyword in any Craigslist location. All the standard Craigslist options are there; price, only search titles, has image, etc. Searches work perfectly though the result screen always has three empty listings at the top of the list. Clicking on a search result brings you to the Craigslist page reformatted to fit your screen within the app. A big positive is that each search can be for a different location. If you want to search for jobs in different cities, no problem. The time between updates (and thus notifications) is set at 15 minutes and is not adjustable. Depending on what your search is for, this could be good or this could be too often or not often enough. As for the app, the only option available is whether you want the sound for the notification on or off. The free version, CraigsAlert-free, is limited to one search/notification at a time and is worth a look. All-in-all a very good app that just needs a little polish.
Craigsnotifica
Yes, it looks like name of the app was only half-hearted but this app is fully baked through and through. You are able to select multiple regions (though all your searches will search all the regions you choose). Notifications include options for LED, sound, and/or vibrate. You can tell it save images to your phone when you aren’t using it (as well as set it to download only when on WiFi). You can save templates for responding to ads via email or SMS. You can mark search results as a “favorite” to review later. Click on a search result shows just the text of the post within the app. Buttons at the bottom can open the page in the web-browser, mark as a favorite or email a response. This app is well thought out and is updated frequently to fix bugs and improve performance. The best of the bunch.
Editor’s Note As you may have noticed, Apples to Apples is a new series from Eric where multiple apps are pit against each other in search of a winner. Sound off in the comments or suggest other app categories ripe for an app battle.
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Eric Weiss
Eric is a graphic designer and Red Sox fan based in Austin, TX. He is also the founder of the Austin Android Users Group and blogs at his website, txhoudini.com.
9 Comments
Great review. I was thinking, maybe pitting the top Facebook apps against each other, file managers, and multi-messenger clients (Meebo, eBuddy IM, Nimbuzz, etc.), would be a good idea. =]
I also use craigslist checker. Id love to see apples to apples of: rss readers, podcast downloaders, home replacement, and woot checkers.
This is a great feature, I love trying to get the best apps and you guys help a lot with that.
Keep up the good work!
Nice reviews Eric! I think this is a great idea for a review series. It was very well written! Kudos to whoever thought this one up!
I’m down for file managers being next in the series!
Thanks for the tip on Craigsnotifica! I’ve been looking for something better than Craigsphone.
P.S., love the different-apple-slices-apple thing.
I love this idea! I would like to see Twitter Clients, Financial Apps for Expenses/Budgets/Checkbook tracking and messenger apps.
I love this segment
Hi Erick, thank you so much for the good feedback on craigsnotifica! Please feel free to send me feedbacks on improvements for it. Since i don’t own a real android phone it’s difficult to improve it specially in usability
Hi all,
iCraigslist Search Agent feature is already available !
Check it out here :
http://i-craigslist.appspot.com/searchagent.html
Detailed description here :
http://i-craigslist.appspot.com/whatisthissa.html
This is way better to get notified for new related ads that
you’re searching for, for the following reason :
- Nothing to install, it’s a web apps !
- Let the server does the ‘pooling’ job, not your phone,
hence no bandwidth spent & not draining your battery.
- Get notified hourly, through email or XMPP instant
messaging (gTalk).
Please give it a try. Looking forward to hear your feedback.
Thank You,
iCraigslist Team.
This is an INCREDIBLE idea for a series, and I commend you guys for all of the work put into it. Everything from the image to the idea and first choice of topic is great–I’ve been trying to figure out Craigslist apps since yesterday, as I’m hunting for a job. I can just have search results brought TO me on my phone? God, what did I do before I bought my sexy nexy….
Can’t wait to see another one–I won’t even suggest topics, just bring it on guys!
Kudos all around.