CraigsMobileList by Mobile Simplicity lets you search craigslist with ease. If you haven’t heard of craigslist.com, then go check it out. It’s a great resource for finding & selling just about anything.
The main screen is very straightforward. Navigation tabs at the bottom allow users to search/browse, bookmarks, favourites and view the apps about page. The navigation stays the same no matter which of the above options you choose.
The first time you load the CraigsMobileList you will need to specify your search criteria. These include your city, category, subcategory and filters. Choose the closest large city to your location as not every city is included.
The categories are broken into the same main categories as the website, which keeps things similar if you are familiar with the web version. Craigslist’s categories include community, personals, housing, for sale, services, jobs, gigs and resumes. Choosing a subcategory is not required but is helpful in refining your search even further.
Filters are also not required but are nice if you only want to search posts with images, only words in the title or set a minimum and maximum price range. For even more fine-tuning of your search you can enter a series of keywords at the top. In order to search using the keywords, you must use the search button as opposed to the main browse button.
Bookmarks are the most useful feature of this app. It allows you to save your search options for quick and easy revisiting. For example, I can save my specific searches for jobs in one city as well as jobs in another city and any other items I may like to check up on frequently. Depending on the city and search term, posts may be updated often. So being able to check these without having to reenter all the information is a must-have feature in my opinion.
CriagsMobileList also boasts some very nice options for viewing a post. You are given the option to email it to a friend, respond by email to the poster or add it to your favourites.
With the ability to tag favourite posts and bookmark specific searches this app is actually a step up from the original website. The only thing keeping it from receiving a higher score is that users don’t have the ability to post their own sales. I hope that in the future the developers work on including this into the app.
