New Wikipedia app for iOS puts the joy of exploration in your hand

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The welcome screen when you first open the new Wikipedia app for iOS. Photo by Benjamin Child, public domain/CC0.
You’re on your commute home from work or school. You want something interesting to pass the time, so you pull out your phone and open the Wikipedia app.

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Browse recommended articles, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, based on what you’ve already read. Screenshot by Nirzar Pangarkar, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Something catches your eye—an image of Monarch butterflies piled together on the branches of an entire tree. You open the article on Monarch butterfly migration. Ah, the butterflies start migrating north this month from Mexico. Back on your Explore feed, new suggested articles appear: Monarch butterfly conservation in California, the Queen butterfly, Diapause
What’s diapause? You preview the article to find out. Before you know it, you’ve reached your stop.
The newly released Wikipedia app for iOS is designed to put that joy of exploration in your hands. The app features articles and images tailored to your interests and surroundings through the new Explore feed. By scrolling down in the Explore feed, you can easily browse a personalized and dynamic set of Wikipedia content including:

  • Featured article of the day
  • Top read articles
  • Picture of the day
  • Random articles
  • Nearby articles
  • Recommended articles based on what you’ve read


File:Wikipedia Mobile 5.0 for iPhone and iPad.webm

Preview the new Wikipedia app for iPhone, now including the Explore feed. You can also watch this video on YouTube or Vimeo. Video by Victor Grigas, freely licensed under CC BY-SA-3.0.
Find content that most interests you, easily move from article to article, and save articles for later reading, all while never losing your place. This new feature makes exploring knowledge a journey, even if your ‘final destination’ is just the start.

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Easily search for articles in your preferred languages. Screenshot by Nirzar Pangarkar, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

In addition to the Explore feed, the new Wikipedia app for iOS features major design and usability improvements. Now you can:

  • Navigate using gestures, including 3D Touch – Multi-touch gestures, including swipe, tap, and 3D Touch features that help readers navigate more quickly and simply.
  • Search with Spotlight and Emojis – Search your saved articles using the Spotlight feature on your device. You can also search in the app with your favorite emojis!
  • Read and search in multiple languages – Set up your preferences for multiple preferred browsing languages to read and search articles across Wikipedia-supported languages.
  • Access using shortcuts – Open search, read a random article, and more using 3D touch on our icon from your device’s home screen.
  • View beautiful image galleries – Enjoy high resolution image galleries and prominent article images as you navigate through the app.
  • Share your discoveries – Easily share articles, images, and facts from Wikipedia on social media or by email. Or use Handoff to continue reading articles across your iOS devices.


Curious? See for yourself. The updated app is available in the Apple Store today.
Josh Minor, Product Manager
Wikimedia Foundation

Archive notice: This is an archived post from blog.wikimedia.org, which operated under different editorial and content guidelines than Diff.

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Just tried it, very nice!
However, article text is noticeably smaller than default body text in similar apps (Mail, Twitter, etc). I couldn’t find an app setting to adjust, nor does the app seem to be affected by the global iOS settings for ‘Text Size’ or ‘Display Zoom’. Please make the text size adjustable!

any thoughts on the Mac? is WikiWand the way to go? It seems to work OK in Chrome but not in Safari..
I’m a Mac developer and might want to be able to utilize this technology but I’m just dipping toes in the water at this point?
What if I wanted to try to write Wikiwand myself (modern Safari Extension) where would you point me to start learning some useful concepts about WikiMedia API and Mac?

Hi! I tried the App on my smartphone and it looks very nice! navigation is easy and images looks beautiful. Well done!

Is this available now? I would like to get it!

Is your APP also available for ANDROID users smartphones? Herb.

I uninstalled this as soon as I realized Safari was opening Wikipedia links in the Wikipedia app by default.
If I wanted to be using your app, I would’ve been using it. If I’m in Safari I expect to stay there.

[…] And this is far from the last areas bolstered by a completion suggester. Readers will see results in the new Wikipedia.org search portal, as well as the search function in the two Wikipedia mobile apps, including the newly redesigned Wikipedia app for iOS. […]

Where did the random article search feature go in the app? I don’t want them in my feed, I want to dive deep into the rabbit hole.

Every time I do a search for an article, it lists only articles that are in German. This has been going on for about a week now. How can I switch my article searches back to English?

[…] This builds on an update to our Wikipedia iOS app earlier this year. [2] “In the news” and “Today’s […]