Back in 2007, a few months after the iPhone debuted, an iPhone-specific social network web app called iRovr launched. The service drew a large number of dedicated fans, and the community grew until this past January, when iRovr died. Last week, a native app version of iRovr rose from the web site ashes and appeared in iTunes. Currently, iRovr is drawing a near-perfect rating in the App store — needless to say, its users are happy to have their community back.
Because iRovr is exclusive to iOS devices, the community is tight-knit and responsive. Unlike other social startups, iRovr already had a fan basis from its original incarnation, so you can get started with the service immediately (in other words, there’s a lot of active content). iRovr is centered on streams. There’s a public stream where you can see thoughts from everyone, or users can join topical niche streams. The variety of available topics includes things such as Furry Friends (for posting pet pictures), book clubs, movie reviews and religion, but anyone can easily create a new stream through the app. Users can post text thoughts, or share photos and videos.
I found the navigation to take a bit of learning, especially since I was unfamiliar with the original iRovr, but overall I thought the service was promising. I like that there are options to see random streams via shuffle, and quickly access popular streams from the day or from all-time. These are key for new users to get familiar with the service and the tone of its users. iRovr is ad-supported, and although I don’t like the banner placements, I do like that there are not ads constantly on every page.
IRovr requires an account, and is for users 17 and older.
