Vualla: A social TV app for your iPad, plus a Super Bowl special

There is no shortage of social TV viewing apps out there. Between check-in programs like Glue or Miso, to the more technically savvy ones like IntoNow, they run the gamut. Each of these has its place, for certain, but there’s still a part of the social viewing experience that’s missing.

Vualla appears to fill that gap. It’s an application for your iPad that you can use as a TV listings guide, a social chat platform and even a discovery point. Firing up the app, you’re taken to the main screen which will show you what shows are trending, which ones are most viewed and then it will take you into your personalized section.

In “My Stuff”, you can select channels (by cable, satellite or OTA HD based on your location), the categories that you want to see and then you’re given a large, TV Guide-esque listing of the shows based on time.

So that’s the overview. Now, let’s go deeper. In honor of Sunday’s Super Bowl, Vualla has created an entire section of its app that really allows you to engage with your friends for the game.

• In-App Gaming – Game winner predictions, trivia questions, 10×10 pools
• Social – Chat with other fans, follow Twitter streams and Facebook pages
• Multimedia – Half-time videos, classic ad replays, photos and video highlights
• Game Info -Interviews, real-time updates, player information

But it doesn’t stop with the Super Bowl. In order to keep you engaged Vualla is going to have to continue this level of integration. The team knows that and promises that we’ll see the same content for TV shows like Glee, CSI and more.

Now, here’s the part that we have to tell you: Vualla was a bit sketchy in its operation over the past couple of days. It doesn’t seem to want to let us connect to the Super Bowl content, but that might change once we get closer to the game. TV show listings are sometimes slow to load, too, at least in our experience.

The up shot is that the app is completely free. You can download it from the App Store and make your own decision about it, but we think that the potential is great.

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