Daily iPhone App: CraigsPro+
I'll admit it. I do a lot of my shopping on Craigslist. It's a fantastic website to find phones, car tires, appliances, furniture and more. I'm a patient buyer, though, and wait until I find an excellent deal. Searching for the lowest price is not that hard when you use an app like CraigsPro+.
CraigsPro+ is one of several Craigslist apps in the App Store. Like the others, it lets you search Craigslist, but it has several features that set it apart from the competition. First, it lets you search multiple Craigslist locations. I live about an hour from NH and can easily search listings for both Maine and NH. I can also add in Boston, if I wanted to travel that far. If you're traveling, you can let app use your GPS location to find the appropriate Craigslist site.
CraigsPro+ also lets you setup "search agents". As their name implies, search agents will regularly ping Craigslist for your search term. When it finds a listing that meets your criteria, the app will send you a push notification. This quick notification is essential when you're searching for a hot item like an iPhone or an iPad. Once you find a listing, you can use the app to call or email the seller.
The app also has several other smaller features that make it a pleasure to use. It has a favorites list, so you can save a listing. There's a mapping feature which lets you map and get driving directions to an item's location. The map is extremely useful for those who live in larger state. It also lets you add search filters for select categories and prices. You can also choose to see only those listings with photos, which is a must have when you're buying a high-priced item like a car.
If you're a seller as well as buyer, CraigsPro+ also lets you login to your Craigslist account and manage your listings. The app supports multiple accounts and lets you choose which one to use when you login. Once you login, you can view and edit both live and expired listings. You can also create a new listing on your iPhone and use your camera or photo gallery to upload pictures.
As you can tell, I genuinely like CraigsPro+. The app has several features that make it easy to find a bargain on Craigslist. It has an intuitive interface, which means you don't have to spend a lot of time setting things up. The only missing feature is a dedicated browse function. You can leave the search function blank and find all the listings in a category, but it's still a search-driven result. Some people may miss the free-form browsing, but you can always use mobile Safari to browse the Craigslist site.
The CraigsPro+ app is available in the App Store for US$1.99. The developer Escargot Studios has several other Craigslist apps, but none seem to be as full-featured as the CraigsPro+ version.
