iShows Review

There are so many phenomenal TV shows on right now that it can be hard to keep up, especially if the show hasn't made the jump to Netflix to inevitably become the subject of a shameless TV binge. The moment I first opened iShows, an app that wants to help with all of our TV needs, I was instantly impressed. This is how a mobile entertainment app should look. It has a clean, beautiful, and visual-heavy interface that's easy to navigate and utilize.

Once users have searched for and selected a show, they can find it in the 'iShows' home section with a countdown beside the upcoming episode title, letting the user know when it is due to air. To alert users on the day of a new episode, notifications can be set by swiping to the left of the episode header. Swiping right will reveal a photo gallery to flip through, though unfortunately the images cannot be enlarged, nor does the app work in landscape mode. Nevertheless, the whole process feels intuitive and is genuinely a pleasure to use.

For previously aired episodes, users will find a short synopsis for each, alongside a user rating and a link to IMDB from which the actor profiles are also sourced. The search function is reliable, if not a little unforgiving, producing no results for 'Following' but the desired result for 'The Following'. Lazy typists such as myself might be not be happy about it, but it's a small inconvenience in the long run. Alternatively, the 'Trending' tab shows the most sought after shows and is a great way to find out about new shows that might have previously passed under the radar. The only perplexing feature is the fact that there is no location-based schedule information. For example, US shows have US listings and British shows have British listings. It's the only thing I personally found unhelpful about iShows.

Regardless, iShows is still one of the best apps for television information and scheduling that I have used. The sweeping and fading images giving the whole thing a polished feel that never takes away from the sheer usefulness of it all. Now, please excuse me, my Netflix queue is fit to burst and I need to get my binge on.