Yes, you can now write complete blog posts directly from your iPhone!
And this isn’t some watered down attempt by a hack developer. WordPress for iPhone is a fully functional app that rivals the online edition. Plus, you can add multiple blogs. I work on 3 blogs, so having access to all 3 from my iPhone is incredibly valuable.
Setting Up Your Blogs
You need to turn on the Remote Publishing options. Login to your blog (online) and go to Settings, then Writing. Check the boxes next to Atom Publishing Protocol and XML-RPC. Like this:
Now that your blog will allow remote publishing, you can setup the app on your iPhone…
Setting Up WordPress on Your iPhone
In the WP iPhone app, just tap Add blog and follow the instructions. All you need is your login information.
You’ll see the Resize Photos option. This can limit the size of photos you upload to the blog. If you turn it on, your photos will be resized to a maximum of 640 x 480 pixels. Don’t get too worried about this setting because you can turn it on or off for each post.
Writing New Posts
Of course you can type – that’s obvious. The real genius of the app is in the details. For example, you can select and add new tags and categories for every post. But it gets even better…
When writing a new post, you’re actually using the HTML version. This is awesome because (if you’re a huge nerd like me) you can add HTML code right into the post. Literally anything – CSS, H1 tags, links, lists, bold, italic, etc. I’m a big fan of this.
You might be used to the “visual” editor in the online WordPress interface – that’s OK. The iPhone app doesn’t force you to use any HTML code. When you’re typing the posts, it looks like the online version and you probably won’t know the difference. Just type as you normally would and you’ll be fine.
Publishing & Saving Posts
You can set the publish status to:
- Local Draft
- Draft
- Published
- Private
- Pending Review
The Local Draft saves your writing progress on your iPhone only. That way you can add a few sentences, put it down and come back at any time. This is perfect for times when your service is spotty or if you’re on an airplane when you can’t connect to the internet. When you’re finished writing, just set the status to Published and it will be posted to your blog immediately.
If you need to finish the post at your computer (to add HTML, a YouTube video, etc.), just set the status to Draft. When you select Draft, you’ll have keep editing on your iPhone. Plus edit on your Mac. The app will sync the current version to your iPhone or Mac so you can finish up wherever you are.
Private makes the post – you guessed it – private. Just like the online version. Same for Pending Review. I’m sure you can guess what that does.
Add Photos
Adding photos to the post is really easy. Just tap the button to take a new picture or grab an existing photo. That’s it. It’s a really cool feature, but I need a little more.
For example, the photos are converted into thumbnails. The thumbnails are what’s shown in your blog post. This is perfect if I want to add several photos to a single blog post (yes, you can add multiple photos to one blog post). Even thought the thumbnails are small, they’ll still link to a full-size version when clicked. That’s done automatically. Cool right?
However, I really want the option to setup the “main” image of my blog from the app. My website uses large images at the top of each post and I haven’t found a way to make it work yet. Maybe I can do a 2-step process by uploading the pics then editing the HTML… I’ll save that for a future post.
Pages & Comments
Yep, you can write pages too. It’s the exact same process as writing a new blog post. And you can do the same for comments. Easily and quickly edit, delete and approve new comments right from your iPhone!
The truth is I’m awful at checking for new comments. And since most of them are spam, it’s not something I look forward to. However, now that I can login at anytime, from anywhere… I’ll be checking for new comments daily. Maybe hourly.
Unfortunately, you can’t write new comments (or reply to new comments) which is a bummer. That’s a feature I’d love to see in the next upgrade.
WordPress for iPhone Has it All
This app can do almost everything. However, it’s real value is the on the fly editing and creation of new posts, pages and comments. I’m hoping that version 2.0 will have improved control over images.
Click here to download WordPress for iPhone
This post was written by...
Tony Stocco is a total Apple fanboy - addicted to his iPad, iPhone, iMac, MacBook Pro, Hackintosh and iPod Shuffle... And anxiously waiting to see the new iPhone 5.