Wikipedia launches official Android app

The Wikipedia app on Android 4.0 The Wikimedia Foundation has quietly launched an official Wikipedia application for Google's open source Android mobile operating system. With the new app for the online encyclopedia users can search the entire Wikipedia site as well as find articles for nearby points of interest. Articles can be saved to a user's device for offline viewing or shared using the Android "Share" function, allowing users to send an article via, for example, email or text message.

Wikipedia for Android isn't the non-profit organisation's first mobile app; Wikipedia Mobile has been available in the iTunes App Store for iOS devices like the iPhone for some time. It requires iOS 3.0 or later and its MIT-licensed source code is available on GitHub.

The official Wikipedia app for Android is available to download from the Android Market and requires Android 2.2 "Froyo" or later. The developers welcome feedback on the project's wiki or to the @WikimediaMobile Twitter account.

(crve)