Chomp brings iPhone users a better way to discover apps through personalized recommendations and community reviews.
There’s a few ways to start app hunting, on Chomp’s site or through a sleek iPhone app that enables app enthusiasts to review, rate and share.
After firing up the app on the iPhone, users can start teaching the app what type of apps they like the most. The rating system is similar to Glue, users just tell the app “yes I like it” or “no, that app sucks”, and the more you review, the better Chomp will get to know you. The Chomp site can be used to discover new apps but recommendations, ratings and reviews can only be done with the iPhone app.
There are numerous ways to find apps and it includes the option to search by both category and price. Another thing we liked about the app was the search-as-you-type feature that auto-completes the search coupled with displaying the icon of the app and the price, something that the iPhone’s native app store doesn’t do. The visualization of the icon is a helpful little feature if you forget the correct spelling of an app.
The UI is beautiful and sports full sized screenshots of every app and a direct link to download the app from the device’s native app store. The downloads will be saved to an archives screen containing past reviews and a watch list that can be used to keep an eye on selected apps.
Chomp has created an entire community around the love of apps. The social feature of the app lets users follow other members and view their reviewing activity. It will also search across Twitter and Facebook to locate all your friends that use Chomp.
Appshopper (iPhone app) is another alternative but unlike Chomp it enables users to find both iPhone and iPad apps. It is however missing the ability to share with social networks and has no personalized recommendations, the thing that makes Chomp so neat.
In addition to the Chomp site and its iPhone app, Chomp’s discovery engine is also being used within other app-enthusiast communities by connecting to Chomp’s API and back-end algorithm. This extends Chomp’s collection of reviews, news and app recommendations to other services and sites. A few days ago, Chomp announced partnership with 148 apps, a site dedicated to app-crazed folk that now uses Chomps search technology.
Chomp’s API delivers great app search results along with their expanded search term feature, delivering both apps that relate to the search and suggested alternate terms. It’s a great feature to help the user find the right app” – Jeff Scott 148apps.com
Chomp has been backed by various investors including the VC firm BlueRun Ventures, a group that has Waze, Topsy and Ganji all listed within their company portfolio. Chomp is available at the app store for free.
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