Simpl Review

Our Review by Kevin Stout on April 17th, 2012
Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: SIMPLE, NOT POWERFUL
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Simpl is a website builder that creates a site directly from the iPad.

Developer: Simpl App Ltd
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPad (third-generation)

iPad Integration Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar
User Interface Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar

Overall Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar

There are all kinds of website building services. Many of those services even have iOS apps for updating the sites (Squarespace, Wordpress, Tumblr, etc.), Simpl is the first service and app I’ve heard of that allows users to not only update the website, but build it from scratch as well.

Simpl creates quick, 5-page websites for users at a low monthly cost. The first question I had about the app was if it allowed users to use their own custom domains. The answer to that is yes, but the details aren’t apparent on the site. For now, the FAQ just says “For sure. Contact your domain registrar...” But the site promises easy instructions for that soon.

The app provides five different templates for up to five pages on the site: Text, Quote, Photos, Contact, and News. The text template is simple enough; it includes a title and a text box. Quote is just a page with a large text area for a quote and the source of that quote. Photos is self-explanatory; it contains a photo gallery. Contact is an organized contact info page. And News is the blog template.

Most will be disappointed about the news template. It’s a bare minimum blog template. Pictures and video cannot be added (yet, the FAQ seems to suggest they’re adding features quickly). Overall, the websites users can create with Simpl definitely aren’t the most feature-packed and complex websites. They aren’t comparable to Wordpress or even Tumblr. But it’s a quick and cheap way to create a simple website from an iPad. If the updates add some seriously needed features (video, photos, and more customization), Simpl could rival some of the more popular website building services. I’m interested to see how other site building services react to this app.

There’s currently a free two-week trial for all users. Also, users who decide to start subscribing soon get a 20% discount for life. It’s currently $4.99 but with the discount it’s $3.99 per month. Currently, the payment system isn’t live. I assume this means the two week trial can actually last longer for someone if they don’t get the payment system live within that period. On the Simpl FAQ page, they describe the current payment situation,

“Our new payment system will go live shortly and we’ll email all Simpl users details when it does. Make sure you create an account so we have your email address.”

So it’s probably a good idea to grab the Simpl app and create an account before they get the subscription system worked out. That 20% discount won’t last forever and anyone even remotely interested in using this service could save that dollar a month for life (potentially).

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