iPad Finally Gets a LinkedIn App

LinkedIn’s iPad app is finally here, and it was worth the wait. Unfortunately, like many mobile applications, the LinkedIn software doesn’t have all the features of the desktop site.

Version 5.0 of the free LinkedIn iOS app is now optimized for iPhone, iPod touch and iPads. (LinkedIn mobile apps are also available for BlackBerry and Android handhelds, but not for Android tablets.) LinkedIn for iOS takes advantage of the larger tablet screen and adds a Flipboard-inspired interface for browsing content, which includes status updates from your connections and news stories relevant to your profession.

The app is divided into three areas: All Updates, You, and Inbox. All Updates is the meatiest part of LinkedIn’s iOS app. After integrating your calendar, you can view your schedule and view the LinkedIn profiles of people identified in calendar appointments. It’s a cool feature that’s not currently available when using LinkedIn within a Web browser.

The All Updates dashboard lets you view the current Dow Jones index and weather for your city; trending news stories from various sources such as The New York Times and Forbes; who’s viewed your profile; connections who recently changed positions (a feature that’s only offered in LinkedIn mobile versions); and content shared by your coworkers.

The All Updates section also lets you easily choose to view updates only from your coworkers, LinkedIn Today news feeds, Groups, and more. To refresh the content, you touch the refresh button at the top right of the app’s screen. Unfortunately refreshing manually purged all content from the All Updates view in a couple of cases. I suspect this is a bug LinkedIn will fix in a future version.

The You section shows who has viewed your profile, people you may know, your recent activity and your connections. You can write a status update, but you can’t edit your profile—which is the current LinkedIn iPad app’s biggest downside.

Finally, the Inbox, as its name suggests, is where you view and respond to LinkedIn messages and connection invites.

Overall, I like the LinkedIn for iPad interface. It’s clean, simple, and geared for browsing—which I can’t say about the LinkedIn service on the Web. A search bar and status update button are easily accessible in the top right corner from just about anywhere in the app, too. In other words, LinkedIn makes your iPad just a bit more business-like—without sacrificing any of the tablet’s hip factor.