This Week's Sponsor:

Winterfest 2024

The Festival of Artisanal Software


Taptu, Search by Touch

Mobile browsers are usually of one breed on the iPhone. All browsers normally have an address bar, a search bar, and perhaps tabs. But asides from accessing search engines, none of them make looking for information too convenient. Taptu Search makes finding information easy because of interactive contextual touch elements.

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Once you load up Taptu, you can clearly see just what the developers had in mind. All you have is a search bar, and across the bottom of the screen you can dig into your common categories ticker, featuring topics such as sports and tech. It’s meant for displaying relevant information with just the tap of a finger, and it looks good doing it. Under the search bar, you’ll notice some trending topics.

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

While you search, you’re going to get this Palm-Pre-esque card view of related sites that you can swipe through. You can tap on the central blue arrow to continue to the site (which is very fast on WiFi since sites are loaded in the background), or you can dot the pink “i” to save that site for later reference.

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

When it’s time to make those searches even more refined (if you’re not satisfied). By pressing the Taptu button, you’ll initiate a sort of freestyle list that allows you to select a category. That way if you only want to see what the latest wikipedia entries are for the iPad, you can do it with a tap of the finger.

Taptu iPhone

Taptu iPhone

For those who like to share their discoveries, Facebook and Twitter integration is built in, and can be turned off with a quick flip of the switch in the settings.

I’m pretty happy with Taptu, from it’s vibrant icon and color choices to its search flair. For the most part searches were relevant to what I was looking for, although sometimes I’d chance upon some stray person I could care less about. Nevertheless, you can give Taptu a virtual spin via a free download in the iTunes store.

Access Extra Content and Perks

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for nearly a decade.

What started with weekly and monthly email newsletters has blossomed into a family of memberships designed every MacStories fan.

Learn more here and from our Club FAQs.

Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with apps, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, early access to the MacStories Unwind podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;

Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus an active Discord community, advanced search and custom RSS features for exploring the Club’s entire back catalog, bonus columns, and dozens of app discounts;

Club Premier: All of the above and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.