Redfin’s mobile apps team has been firing on all cylinders, burning the proverbial midnight oil, working non-proverbial nights and weekends. The upshot is that we’ve released an upgrade today to our iPad and iPhone app that will give you faster access to even more beautiful home detail pages. It comes down to three words: native URL handling.
Now, anywhere there’s a link to a Redfin web page (in Instant Update emails and search results, for example), you can open them directly in the Redfin app. You’re one tap away from seeing all the information about the home and the huge photos in a format that’s tailored to your iPhone or iPad. You don’t need to copy/paste between applications, or use your mobile browser.
With the new version of the app, you can receive an Instant Update about a new home that just hit the market, tap on the link in the email and in a couple of seconds, you’re seeing details and big, beautiful images of a home that was just listed for sale.
Here’s what that looks like in three steps:
1. You receive the email and tap on the link to the home you want to see.
2. Choose to open the link in the Redfin app.
3. You’re among the first to see this newly listed home, and you’re seeing it in a format that’s made for your mobile device.
But wait…there’s more!
Sync with AirPlay: When you combine the latest iPad, iPhone, Apple TV and Redfin’s iOS app, AirPlay wirelessly extends your screen to show details and a full-screen slideshow of any home, even while you’re searching the map and looking at details of the home.
Retina-display previews: If you have one of the latest iPads, you’ll appreciate having preview images that are worthy of that beautiful screen.
Open house sorting: Turn your iPad or iPhone into a house-hunting machine, and sort open houses by which are happening soonest.
Improved stability: Crashes stink, so we hunted down the sources and fixed as many as we could find.
Customers have been asking for some of these improvements since we launched the first iPhone app two years ago, and we really wanted to take the time to get the experience right. We hope you’ll agree they were worth the wait.
What should the next version of our mobile apps include that they don’t already? Leave us a comment and we’ll make sure our mobile team adds it to their to-do list.
Whether you’re the curl-up-on-the-couch-with-Redfin-for-iPad type or you prefer to use your iPhone to search homes on-the-go (please don’t Redfin while driving), we hope you’ll love these new features we just added to our top-rated iOS apps:
Local Agents are Just a Tap Away: For the first time, you have direct access to local, experienced Redfin agents through your iPhone or iPad app. Tap the question bubble at the bottom of any home listing to ask a Redfin agent a question about the home or market.
Share Homes on Facebook: Home buying is personal, but sometimes you want to find out what your friends think about a place or just share some good old real estate porn. Use the one-tap Facebook sign-in and start a conversation.
Sort Homes on iPhone: The iPad app’s popular sorting feature is now available for iPhone! Sort by distance, days on Redfin, bedrooms, bathrooms and of course the “Redfin Special Blend.”
Search Nearby Homes: Tap the location arrow at the top of the screen to view all the nearby homes for sale, no matter where you are.
Edit a Saved Search on iPad: You can now edit your saved searches on the iPad app. Any changes you make will sync back to your Redfin account.
Better, Faster, Stronger We know that every second you spend waiting for a page to load is another second you’re not finding your dream home. The upgraded app runs faster than previous versions, and we hope you’ll notice its improved performance and stability as well.
Download or update Redfin’s iPad and iPhone apps and leave a comment below or send an email to feedback@redfin.com to let us know what you think. What feature would you like to see in the next round of upgrades?
In what has become a marketing team rite of passage, the video was produced by our new PR whiz Rachel who estimates she consumed 50 packs of gum while messing with video cameras, file formats, and recording levels. One of these days we’ll need to blog about everything we’ve learned making demo apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.
The wait is finally over! And just in time for the holidays :). If you can’t wait until the end of this blog post to get your hands on our free app, then head directly to the App Store to download Redfin for iPad right now. Otherwise, read on for all the glorious details.
Why did we take the extra time to customize an app for the iPad when we could have simply tinkered with our top-rated iPhone app to make it work on the iPad? Taking the easy road has just never been our thing. Plus, we couldn’t contain our excitement for all of the awesome stuff that we could pull off with the iPad.
We built our iPad app from scratch to take advantage of iPad’s delightful user experience and to bring every detail we can about each home that interests you right to your fingertips. In addition, we added several exciting, new features to this release such as the option to view homes in a photo gallery or on a map, and a smart, new sort option called the “Redfin Special Blend.” The new sort option prioritizes the homes we think will be most interesting to you (i.e. Redfin has more information about them such as comments left by Redfin agents who have seen the home in person). But the thing we love most about Redfin for iPad is how fun it is to scroll through the full-screen photos and zoom in for a closer look at each home. Be careful, it’s addictive!
Here’s a quick tour through Redfin for iPad’s most exciting features:
Find homes nearby. Our app uses your iPad’s GPS so you can quickly and easily locate nearby homes for sale and open houses.
You’ll know it when you see it. We love maps but we also think you’ll agree that a photo gallery is a convenient way to quickly discover homes that catch your eye. The photo gallery feature is particularly useful once you’ve narrowed your search down to a specific neighborhood.
All the home photos and details you crave on one big screen. With just one swipe you’ll find photos and all the details about a home including property history and Redfin Agent Insights, comments left by Redfin agents who have seen the home in person. Plus, it’s all on one screen.
Have fun! Swipe through full-screen photos and then zoom in for a closer look.
Share it with a friend or friends. With one tap you can share a home you like with a friend in email or post it for your followers on Twitter, and all without leaving the app.
Stay in sync. Don’t worry, all of your old standbys are still here. When you sign in to your account, you can save searches, mark your favorites or x-out out the ones you don’t like, and even store notes and photos. Everything you do on the iPad app stays in sync so you can pick up from where you left off when you return to your computer or use a different mobile device.
Love the app? Help us out and write a review!
Found some room for improvement? Leave a comment here or drop us a line at support@redfin.com.
Redfin's corporate blog is the place to read what Redfin employees have to say about Redfin, the real estate industry and other topics such as life at a startup or usability and web design.
