I love Pinterest. A social network devoted to sharing pretty/awesome things? Yes please. I do however have one major complaint with the site: the mobile experience.
Using Pinterest on a phone (or an Android one at least) is a hellish experience. User friendly it most certainly is not. It’s enough to make anyone pinsane, and here’s why:
1. Android Users Like Cool Pics Too
I know that there are rumours that an Android Pinterest app is coming, but at the moment, there isn’t one. I’m sure a lot of my complaints could be overcome with a great app, but at the moment we’re stuck using the mobile site.
2. Hey, Where Are My Notifications?
On first glance, the mobile site looks great. Photos are prioritised with buttons below to comment, like and repin the pics you love. But, how do I find my notifications? Apparently they’ve gone AWOL.
I understand the thinking behind this – Pinterest’s priority is first and foremost the pictures. And yet, it is a social network. If I were to only use the mobile site, I’d never discover my new followers. Or who likes my pins. Or see the photos that fellow pinners are recommending to me.
You have to resort to switching to the full site to get social with Pinterest. Not only is it annoying, but also the site itself looks chaotic and cluttered on a phone and it’s hard to read the all-important notifications.
Sort it out.
3. Dude, Let Me Pin!
This is the sin that has had me screaming at my phone in frustration. You cannot add a pin using the mobile site.
I know, that’s crazy right? Taking away the main function of Pinterest on the mobile site? But there just isn’t an option to add something new. You’re back to using the full site for that.
But it’s when you want to add a pin to a new board that the fun really starts, and the Pinterest mobile dance begins.
You try holding the phone portrait or landscape, to see which works best. You zoom in so you can read the buttons; then the scrolling functions make adding your board nigh on impossible. Persistent pinners can zoom in and out and scroll it all about until it works, but who can be bothered with that?
It’s a shame because Pinterest is so useful and so much fun, but I want to be able to pin as and when I find cool things to pin. (Who doesn’t?) And until they get that Android app sorted, it just isn’t worth it for me.
Katie Saxon is a digital marketer working for Boom, a Nottingham-based online marketing agency. Follow her on Pinterest if you like Internet Marketing and all things wedding-related.