Google+ 4.8.2

After letting Facebook have its way for a decade, Google finally decided to introduce its own social network. Drawing inspiration from similar services, Google+ is a jack of all trades and a master of none.

A counter-intuitive experience

Years after debuting Google+ is still a messy service. It never looked too good and neither does the iOS app in its current form. If you’re not familiar with the network, you’ll have a hard time understanding how everything works.

Half of the interface is in English while the other half is in whatever language you’ve set. Same goes for some location features. The UI has no progression. You have to retrace your steps in your head to know where you are at any given time. On iPad, it’s easier to use but still a cesspool of irrelevant information.

A good blogging platform

Google+ may not look very good and it may not be perfect, but it does pack a decent amount of blogging features that many users will be very interested in. You can post life as you see it in various ways, complete with a lot of text, photos, location information, links, and other stuff.

You can follow what people around the world are sharing, and you can join circles and narrow down your feed. Communities let you explore interests and find people with passions similar to yours. Communities is probably the best asset in Google+. You can use these to spread the word fast, get in contact with people like you, and stay on top of the latest developments in a field.

Google+ puts a bit of emphasis on photography as well. It will automatically back up photos and videos (if you let it), and it packs filters, effects and other cool editing features.

Tweak your Privacy settings

You can use Google+ to stalk people if they have their location sharing enabled. This feature updates the profile every time the user moves around, which is pretty scary. It also uploads your photos to Google’s servers, and there are various other privacy concerns tied to the app. Of course, if you're careful to tweak your settings just right, many of these issues will disappear.

Portable version:

• Google+ for Android