Canopy offers curated shopping on Amazon
So many of us love shopping on Amazon, but at times the choices can be overwhelming. Canopy (free) is a new iOS app designed as sort of a front door for Amazon, offering community-curated shopping suggestions for items offered on the online shopping venue.
The ad-free app allows you to create an account, save things in personal collections, and search to see what others say about items sold on Amazon (you don't have to have an account to use the app if you don't want to bother). Yes, Amazon allows comments and they are really helpful, but the elegant design of Canopy and the 'likes' and comments from users may give you better direction in finding what you want.
I looked around in several of the categories and found useful suggestions, as well as finding items that wouldn't have turned up doing a standard search in Amazon. If you find something you like, you're directed straight to Amazon to buy your item. If you have an account, you can share your comments and your best (and worst) finds.
In use the app worked just fine. The design made it easy to explore, and there's no question I was finding interesting items that wouldn't pop up in the usual Amazon search unless it was very specific.
Canopy should help you look for gifts during this holiday season, and your recipients might really appreciate your creativity in gift giving.
Canopy requires iOS 7 or later. It's optimized for the iPhone 5 and 6 series of phones, but it is not universal, and only runs in portrait mode, which is a really dumb decision since many iPad cases are set for landscape. On the iPhone it's not an issue. That's my only gripe, and I think Canopy is worth a look.
